Abstracto
- The (co)variance components of BW at weaning (WW) were estimated for a Colombian multibreed beef cattle population. A single-trait animal model was used. The model included the fixed effect of contemporary group (sex, season, and year), and covariates including age of calf at weaning, age of cow, individual and maternal heterozygosity proportions, and breed percentage. Direct genetic, maternal genetic, permanent environmental, and residual effects were included as random effects. Direct, maternal, and total heritabilities were 0.23 ± 0.047, 0.15 ± 0.041, and 0.19, respectively. The genetic correlation between direct and maternal effects was -0.42 ± 0.131, indicating that there may be antagonism among genes for growth and genes for maternal ability, which in turn suggests thai improving WW by direct and maternal EPD may be difficult. A greater value for the direct heterosis effect compared with the maternal heterosis effect was found. Furthermore, the greater the proportion of Angus, Romosinuano, and Blanco Orejinegro breeds, the less the WW. © 2009 American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved.
