A comparison between sire and animal model for lifetime Production traits in Egyptian buffaloes

Abstract

A total of 1621 lactation records of Egyptian buffaloes, kept at Mehalet Mousa farm, belonging to the Animal production Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, were used. Data were analyzed by using sire model (SM) and animal model (AM). For SM, the model includes the fixed effects of year and month of birth and age at first calving as covariate and sire as a random effect. For AM, the model includes the fixed effects of month and year of birth and random effects of animals and errors on lifetime milk yield (LTMY), total lactation period (TLP), age at disposal (AGDS) and number of lactation completed (NLC). Means were 10552 kg, 1173 d, 125 mo., and 5.97 for LTMY, TLP, AGDS and NLC, respectively. Estimates of heritability from sire model were 0.45, 0.18, 0.90 and 0.36 for LTMY, TLP, AGDS and NLC, respectively and from AM were 0.27, 0.17, 0.12 and 0.06 for above traits studied, respectively. Estimates of phenotypic correlations among traits studied ranged from 0.55 to 0.73 for SM and for AM 0.40 to 0.80 and genetic correlations among traits studied ranged from 0.19 to 0.96 for SM and from AM ranged from 0.10 to 0.98. Rank correlations among lifetime and longevity traits as estimated from SM were positive and highly significant (P<0.01) and ranged from 0.08 to 0.98 as estimated from SM. Rank correlations of sire transmitting ability among lifetime and longevity traits as estimated from AM were positive and significant (P <0.01) and ranged from 0.33 to 0.88