Phenotypic and genetic parameter estimates for early growth, growth rate and growth efficiency‐related traits of Fogera cattle in Ethiopia

Background Understanding the phenotypic and genetic parameter estimates of growth traits is important for an effective livestock genetic improvement programme. Objectives In this study, we evaluated the phenotypic performances and estimated genetic parameters for birthweight (BWT), weaning weight (WWT), pre‐weaning average daily gain (PADG), pre‐weaning Kleiber ratio (PKR), pre‐weaning growth efficiency (PGE) and pre‐weaning relative growth rate (PRGR) of Fogera cattle in Ethiopia. Methods Growth data collected from 2000 to 2018 in Andassa Livestock Research Center were used for the study. General linear model of SAS 9.1 was used to estimate the least squares mean (LSM) ± standard error (SE) for phenotypic performances, and AI‐REML of Wombat software combined with a series of five single‐trait animal models to estimate phenotypic variance and its direct, maternal and residual components. Calf sex, calf birth season and calf birth year were the fixed effects considered. Results The overall LSM ± SE BWT, WWT, PADG, PKR, PGE and PRGR were 21.28 ± 0.05 kg, 97.99 ± 0.67 kg, 320.29 ± 2.79 g, 10.10 ± 0.04, 3.51 ± 0.35 and 1.95 ± 0.00, respectively. All the fixed effects considered significantly (p

The phenotypic and genetic parameter of birthweight (BWT), weaning weight (WWT), pre‐weaning average daily gain (PADG), pre‐weaning Kleiber ratio (PKR), pre‐weaning growth efficiency (PGE) and pre‐weaning relative growth rate (PRGR) were estimated for Fogera cattle in Ethiopia using data collected from 2000 to 2018 in Andassa Livestock Research Center. Positive and negative correlations were obtained between the traits for both genetic and phenotypic parameters. The positive and larger phenotypic and genetic correlations between most of the traits implied that selection based on one trait could improve the other traits.