Multivariate Animal Model-based Analysis of Fiber Traits in Kashmir Merino Sheep.

Keywords: Correlation; heritability; maternal; model; trait; variance; ; ; ; ; ; EN Correlation heritability maternal model trait variance ZH 7948 7955 8 11/21/22 20221220 NES 221220 Introduction Livestock rearing plays a major part in ensuring nutritional security of masses in developing countries (Randolph et al. [14]). Similarly, Wang et al. ([21]) reported moderate heritability (0.40) for fiber diameter and low heritability estimate (0.19) for staple length at yearling stage in Inner Mongolia White Cashmere goats. In concurrence to our study, Di et al. ([4]) reported moderate direct additive heritability estimate of 0.22 for yearling fiber diameter in Chinese superfine Merino sheep on fitting multi-trait animal model. Higher heritability estimates, when compared to the present study, have been reported by Hanford, Van Vleck, and Snowder ([9]) in Rambouillet sheep and Jafari and Hashemi ([10]) in Makuie sheep. [Extracted from the article]