Estimation of genetic parameters for weights at different ages in anatolian buffalo calves

The determination of the breeding potential and direction of the population in terms of traits of interest depends on the genetic variation. Therefore, it is essential to know the genetic parameters of economic traits to improve yields in animal breeding. The objective of this study was to investigate the heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlations among growth traits in Anatolian buffaloes of istanbul province.

A total records of 7649 birth weights, 4623 sixth-month weights and 3133 yearling weights belonging to buffalo calves born between 2012 and 2021 were used. Genetic and phenotypic parameters were estimated from univariate and bivariate animal model using restricted maximum likelihood (REML) procedure in Wombat software. Village, year, season, sex and age of dam were considered as fixed effects and animal additive genetic effect was taken as random effect.

The heritability estimates for birth, sixth-month and yearling weights were 0.14±0.03; 0.22±0.05; 0.39±0.07 respectively. Genetic and phenotypic correlations among growth traits were generally significant and positive and ranged from 0.28±0.02 to 0.97±0.02. As a consequence, the moderate to high estimates of heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlations on growth traits showed that there were some opportunities for genetic improvement in buffaloes of istanbul. These genetic parameters should be considered in selection programs.