ESTIMATION OF HERITABILITY COEFICIENTS FOR PREGNANCY LENGTH AND CALF BIRTH WEIGHT IN THE POPULATION OF HOLSTEIN CATTLE IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA
Abstract
The duration of pregnancy in cows and the body weight of calves at birth have a great influence on the flow and weight of the particle in dairy cows, and thus a very significant impact on the economy of cattle production. The aim of the study was to determine the phenotypic variability and heredity of these traits and the possibility of selection for these traits in the dairy cattle population in the Republic of Serbia. The research included 1348 Holstein Friesian cows that were calved 4247 times in the period from 2007 to 2016 on a farm near Belgrade. The examination of the significance of the factors was done within the GLM procedure of the SAS statistical package. Components of variance were calculated using the REML methodology within the VARCOMP procedure of the SAS statistical package (see 9.4). The average duration of pregnancy in the examined population was 278.5 days, while the average body weight of calves at birth was 37.1 kg. The study found high statistical significance of lactation, year and calving season as well as half of calves on both examined traits, except in the case of calving season on calf body weight, where the season had a statistically significant impact. The duration of pregnancy had a low heredity of 0.018, while the established heredity of birth weight was 0.355.
References
Arnott, G., Roberts, D., Rooke, J.A., Turner, S.P., Lawrence, A.B. & Rutherford, K.M (2012). Board invited review: The importance of the gestation period for welfare of calves: maternal stressors and difficult births. Journal Animal Science, 90 (13), 5021-34.
Atashi, H., Zamiri, M.J. & Dadpasand, M. (2013). Association between dry period length and lactation performance, lactation curve, calf birth weight, and dystocia in Holstein dairy cows in Iran. Journal of Dairy Science, 96, 3632-3638.
Bicalho, R.C., Galvão, K.N., Warnick, L.D. & Guard, C.L. (2008). Stillbirth parturition reduces milk production in Holstein cows. Prev Vet Med., 84 (1-2), 112-20.
Ettema, J.F. & Santos, J.E.P. (2004). Impact of age at calving on lactation, reproduction, health, and income in first-parity Holsteins on commercial farm. Journal of Dairy Science, 87, 2730-2742.
Haile-Mariam, M. & Pryce, J.E (2019). Genetic evaluation of gestation length and its use in managing calving patterns. Journal of Dairy Science, 102, 476-487.
Hansen, M., Lund, M.S., Pedersen, J. & Christensen, L.G. (2004): Gestation length in Danish Holsteins has weak genetic associations with stillbirth, calving difficulty, and calf size. Livestock Production Science, 91, 23–33.
Jamrozik, J., Fatehi, J., Kistemaker, G.J. & Schaeffer, L.R. (2005). Estimates of Genetic Parameters for Canadian Holstein Female Reproduction Traits. Journal of Dairy Science, 88, 2199–2208.
Johanson, J.M. & Berger, P.J. (2003). Birth weight as a predictor of calving ease and perinatal mortality in Holstein cattle. Journal of Dairy Science, 86, 3745-3755.
Johanson, J.M., Berger, P.J., Tsuruta, S. & Misztal I. (2011). A Bayesian threshold-linear model evaluation of perinatal mortality, dystocia, birth weight, and gestation length in a Holstein herd. Journal of Dairy Science, 94, 450-460.
Kašná, E., Zavadilová, L., Krupa, E., Krupová, Z. & Kranjčevičová, A. (2020): Evaluation of gestation length in Czech Holstein cattle. Czech Journal of Animal Science, 65 (12), 473–481.
Meyer, C.L., Berger, P.J., Koehler, K.J., Thompson, J.R. & Sattler, C.G. (2001). Phenotypic trends in incidence of stillbirth for Holsteins in the United States. Journal of Dairy Science, 84, 515-523.
Nienartowicz-Zdrojewska, A., Sobek, Z. & Różańska-Zawieja, J. (2018). Evaluation of gestation length and birth weight of offspring of Polish native cattle breeds in context of estimating genetic parameters. Czech Journal of Animal Science, 63, 323-330.
Norman, H.D, Wright, J.R., Kuhn, M.T., Hubbard, S.M., Cole, J.B. & VanRaden, P.M. (2009). Genetic and environmental factors that affect gestation length in dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science, 92(5), 2259-2269.
Steinbock, L., Näsholm, A., Berglund, B., Johansson, K. & Philipsson J. (2003). Genetic Effects on Stillbirth and Calving Difficulty in Swedish Holsteins at First and Second Calving. Journal of Dairy Science, 86 (6), 2228-2235.
Yin, T. & Kȍnig, S. (2018). Genetic parameters for body weight from birth to calving and associations between weights with test-day, health, and female fertility traits. Journal of Dairy Science, 101, 2158–2170.