Estimation of phenotypic and genetic parameters for weight gain and weight at fixed ages in the double-muscled Belgian Blue Beef breed using field records
beef breed; Belgian Blue; live weight; weight gain
Abstract :
[en] In the double-muscled Belgian Blue beef (DM-BBB) breed, selection focuses on muscular conformation and not on weight gain and higher weight. There are very few studies on growth in the DM-BBB using field records. Therefore, farms have no available useful figures on weight at fixed ages and weight gain for the DM-BBB. This study describes and evaluates live weights of DM-BBB animals. All the data were gathered on farms in Belgium. It was found that a male DM-BBB weighs an average of 51 kg at birth, 98 kg at 3 months, 242 kg at 7 months, 430 kg at 13 months and 627 kg at 20 months. Between the age of 7 and 20 months, weight gain is more than 1200 g a day. Females weigh 47 kg at birth, 96 kg at 3 months, 189 kg at 7 months and 332 kg at 13 months. For males, estimates of heritability for weights at 7, 13 and 20 months were between 0.21 and 0.36. The heritability for weight gain between 13 and 20 months was 0.13. This demonstrates that it is possible to select for higher weights and for increased growth between 13 and 20 months. Animals having high weights at a young age (7 and 13 months) tend to have also high weight at slaughtering age (20 months; r(g) between 0.81 and 0.98), but no additional growth between 13 and 20 months (r(g) between -0.09 and 0.00). High weight at 20 months is partially due to growth between 13 and 20 months (r(g) = 0.49).
Disciplines :
Genetics & genetic processes Animal production & animal husbandry
Author, co-author :
Coopman, F.
Krafft, A.
Dewulf, J.
Van Zeveren, A.
Gengler, Nicolas ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech > Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech
Language :
English
Title :
Estimation of phenotypic and genetic parameters for weight gain and weight at fixed ages in the double-muscled Belgian Blue Beef breed using field records
scite shows how a scientific paper has been cited by providing the context of the citation, a classification describing whether it supports, mentions, or contrasts the cited claim, and a label indicating in which section the citation was made.
Bibliography
Albera A., Mantovani R., Bittante G., Groen A.F., Carnier P. (2001) Genetic parameters for daily live-weight gain, live fleshiness and bone thinness in station-tested Piemontese young bulls. Anim. Sci., 72, 449-456.
Albuquerque L.G., Meyer K. (2001) Estimates of covariance functions for growth from birth to 630 days of age in Nelore cattle. J. Anim. Sci., 79, 2776-2789.
Coopman F., Gengler N., Groen A.F., De Smet S., Van Zeveren A. (2004) Comparison of external morphological traits of newborns to inner morphological traits of the dam in the double-muscled Belgian Blue Beef breed. J. Anim. Breed. Genet., 121, 1-7.
Gengler N., Seutin C., Boonen F., Van Vleck L.D. (1995) Estimation of genetic parameters for growth, feed consumption and conformation traits for double-muscled Belgian Blue Bulls performance-tested in Belgium. J. Anim. Sci., 73, 3269-3273.
Gregory K.E., Cundiff L.V., Koch R.M. (1995a) Genetic and phenotypic (co)variances for production traits of intact male populations of purebred and composite beef cattle. J. Anim. Sci., 73, 2227-2234.
Gregory K.E., Cundiff L.V., Koch R.M. (1995b) Genetic and phenotypic (co)variances for production traits of female populations of purebred and composite beef cattle. J. Anim. Sci., 73, 2235-2242.
Hanset R., Leroy P. (1979) Variations de revenu brut dans un troupeau de bovins à viande du type hypermuscle; étude par simulation. Ann. Méd. Vét., 123, 263-274.
Hanset R., Michaux C., Stasse A. (1987) Relationship between growth rate, carcass composition, feed intake, feed conversion rate and income in four biological types of cattle. Gen. Sel. Ev., 19, 225-248.
Hanset R., Michaux C., Detal G. (1988) Une étude sur la croissance de taureaux I.A. de race Blanc-Bleu Belge. Ann. Méd. Vét., 132, 577-591.
Hanset R., Michaux C., Leroy P., Detal G. (1989) Que peut on encore attendre de la sélection en Blanc Blue Belge. Ann. Méd. Vét., 133, 89-114.
Hanset R., de Tillesse S., André, E., Marchand E. (2001) Genetic parameters and trends in the Belgian Blue cattle breed. In: Y. Van der Honing, A. Hofer, G.M. Crovetto, F. Madec, B. Kemp, C. Lazzaroni, L. Bodin, J.A. Fernandez, E.W. Bruns (eds), Book of Abstracts of the 52nd Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production, Budapest, 26-29 August 2001, p. 39.
Kaps M., Herring W.O., Lamberson W.R. (2000) Genetic and environmental parameters for traits derived from the Brody growth curve and their relationships with weaning weight in Angus cattle. J. Anim. Sci., 78, 1436-1442.
Leroy P., Michaux C. (1999) Belgian white and blue; Results of the field progeny test. In: Belgian Blue Herd-Book (ed.) XXIIIe yearly report; convention I.R.S.I.A.:5614A, pp. 1-36.
Meyer K. (2000) Random regressions to model phenotypic variation in monthly weights of Australian beef cows: Livest. Prod. Sci., 65, 19-38.
Misztal, I. (2002) Available at: http://nce.ads.uga.edu/~ignacy/ newprograms.html
Molina A., Rodero A., Rodero E., Jimenez J.M. (1999) Repeatability of growth in retinto beef cattle. J. Anim. Breed. Genet., 116, 61-73.
Nunez-Dominguez R., Van Vleck L.D., Boldman K.G., Cundiff L.V. (1993) Correlations for genetic expression for growth of calves of Hereford and Angus dams using a multivariate animal model. J. Anim. Sci., 71, 2330-2340.
Parnell P.F., Arthur P.F., Barlow R. (1997) Direct response to divergent selection for yearling growth rate in Angus cattle. Livest. Prod. Sci., 49, 297-304.
Winder J.A., Brinks J.S., Bourdon R.M., Golden B.L. (1990) Genetic analysis of absolute growth measurements, relative growth rate and restricted selection indices in Red Angus cattle. J. Anim. Sci., 68, 330-336.
Similar publications
Sorry the service is unavailable at the moment. Please try again later.
This website uses cookies to improve user experience. Read more
Save & Close
Accept all
Decline all
Show detailsHide details
Cookie declaration
About cookies
Strictly necessary
Performance
Strictly necessary cookies allow core website functionality such as user login and account management. The website cannot be used properly without strictly necessary cookies.
This cookie is used by Cookie-Script.com service to remember visitor cookie consent preferences. It is necessary for Cookie-Script.com cookie banner to work properly.
Performance cookies are used to see how visitors use the website, eg. analytics cookies. Those cookies cannot be used to directly identify a certain visitor.
Used to store the attribution information, the referrer initially used to visit the website
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. Websites use cookies to help users navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. Cookies that are required for the website to operate properly are allowed to be set without your permission. All other cookies need to be approved before they can be set in the browser.
You can change your consent to cookie usage at any time on our Privacy Policy page.