GENETIC AND PHENOTYPIC RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PUBERTAL AND GROWTH CHARACTERISTICS OF GILTS

Authors

L. K. Hutchens, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater
R. L. Hintz, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater
R. K. Johnson, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

April 1981

Comments

Published in JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE, Vol. 53, No. 4, 1981. Copyright American Society of Animal Science. Used by permission.

Abstract

Data on 737 crossbred and purebred gilts were used to obtain heritability estimates for age at puberty (AGEPUB) and weight at puberty (WTPUB) and their genetic and phenotypic correlations with birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), postweaning daily gain (ADG), adjusted age at 90.7 kg (AGE) and adjusted backfat at 90.7 kg (BF). The heritability estimates for AGEPUB were low to moderate (.19 and .40, based upon paternal and maternal half-sib estimates, respectively.) The genetic (rg) and phenotypic (rp) correlations between AGEPUB and BW (r_g = -.07; r_p = -.09), WW (r_g = -.25; r_p = -.19), ADG (r_g = -.38; r_p = -.34) and AGE (r_g = .56; r_p = .38) were favorable. The genetic and phenotypic correlations between AGEPUB and BF were .27 and .01, respectively.