Genetic and environmental influences on size of first litter in sheep, estimated by the REML method

• Published in: Journal of animal breeding and genetics (1986) 2000-02, Vol.117 (1), p.57-64
• Main Author: Hagger, By C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0931-2668; 1439-0388
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1439-0388.2000.00228.x

Fixed effects of age at first litter and of season of lambing as well as variance components for additive genetic, flock × year and sire of litter effects on size of first litter were estimated for an animal model by a derivative‐free REML procedure. Data of the four Swiss sheep breeds White Alpine (WAS), Brown‐headed Meat (BFS), Black‐Brown Mountain (SBS) and Valais Black Nose (SN) were available. Number of first litters used were 21 384, 21 607, 15 013, 12 394 and 18 110 the WAS (two data sets, WAS1, WAS2), BFS, SBS and SN, respectively. Litter size of ewes lambing the first time at 2 years of age was 0.27, 0.31, 0.41, 0.46 and 0.26 lambs larger than of ewes lambing the first time at 1 year of age. The largest increase occurred for the two breeds (BFS, SBS) with the lowest average age at first litter. The largest difference between any two lambing seasons within breed were 0.16, 0.16, 0.29, 0.22 and 0.07 lambs. Estimates of additive genetic variance of size of first litter were between 0.0269 (SN) and 0.0765 (SBS). Heritability estimates for this trait were 0.171, 0.156, 0.114, 0.225 and 0.122 for WAS1, WAS2, BFS, SBS and SN, respectively. A large flock × year component (relative to phenotypic variance) of 0.148 was found for SN, compared with estimates between 0.042 and 0.067 for the other breeds. A sire of litter component (relative to phenotypic variance) of 0.066 was found for SN, compared with estimates between 0.016 and 0.039 for the other breeds. It can be concluded that all nongenetic effects investigated should be taken into account for the estimation of additive genetic variance and breeding values for size of first litter, and that considerable variation in size of genetic and nongenetic effects exists in the sheep breeds under consideration.