425284

ESTIMATES OF DIRECT AND MATERNAL GENETIC EFFECTS FOR MILK TRAITS IN FRIESIAN COWS

Article

Last updated: 04 May 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

Animal behaviour/ management

Abstract

Direct and maternal genetic effects on milk traits in dairy cows are very important elements for estimating the best genetic parameters. The present work aimed to estimate phenotypic and genetic parameters for productive and reproductive traits. Variance components and genetic elements were estimated, using records of 2166 lactations of Friesian cows' progeny of 92 sires and 882 dams from 2014 to 2020. Two animal models were constructed, and whether or not maternal genetic effects were considered. The variables studied are ten-month milk production (10 MMP), ten-month fat production (10 MFP), ten-month protein yield (10 MPP), lactation length (LL), days dry (DD), age at first parturition (AFP), days open (DO) and calving interval (CI). Phenotypic and genetic correlations among all variables studied were calculated. Estimated direct heritability (h2d) ranged from 0.23 to 0.25 for 10 MMP, from 0.20 to 0.27 for 10 MFP, from 0.19 to 0.26 for 10 MPP, from 0.03 to 0.06 for LL, from 0.03 to 0.06 for DD, from 0.01 to 0.04 for AFP, from 0.06 to 0.10 for DO and from 0.04 to 0.05 for CI. The estimates of maternal heritability (h2m) were 0.23, 0.20, 0.19, 0.03, 0.03, 0.04, 0.06 and 0.05 for the above variables studied, respectively. Therefore, maternal genetic effects should be considered in the animal model for genetic evaluation of milk production and its components. Therefore, the current study recommends improvement of milk production efficiency and milk component variables through selective breeding strategies targeting both bulls and cows. While direct h2 estimates showed that the greatest difference in fertility variables is influenced by environmental elements, which can be improved by using a better feeding system and controlling heat stress.

DOI

10.21608/avmj.2025.352532.1554

Keywords

direct, maternal, Genetic, Friesian cows

Authors

First Name

ALAA

Last Name

GADO

MiddleName

E.

Affiliation

Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta University, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

ADEL

Last Name

KHATTAB

MiddleName

S.

Affiliation

Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta University, Egypt

Email

adelkhattab@yahoo.com

City

Cairo, Egypt

Orcid

0000-0002-2906-4177

First Name

AHMED

Last Name

HUSSEIN

MiddleName

M.

Affiliation

Animal Production Research Institute (APRI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Egypt

Email

ahmed.hussien1@agr.aun.edu.eg

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

ANAS

Last Name

BADR

MiddleName

A.

Affiliation

Animal Production Research Institute (APRI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

SHYMMA

Last Name

EL-KOMY

MiddleName

M.

Affiliation

Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta University, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

71

Article Issue

185

Related Issue

55112

Issue Date

2025-04-01

Receive Date

2025-01-15

Publish Date

2025-04-01

Page Start

513

Page End

523

Print ISSN

1012-5973

Online ISSN

2314-5226

Link

https://avmj.journals.ekb.eg/article_425284.html

Detail API

http://journals.ekb.eg?_action=service&article_code=425284

Order

425,284

Type

Research article

Type Code

1,840

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Assiut Veterinary Medical Journal

Publication Link

https://avmj.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

ESTIMATES OF DIRECT AND MATERNAL GENETIC EFFECTS FOR MILK TRAITS IN FRIESIAN COWS

Details

Type

Article

Created At

04 May 2025