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ARS Home » Plains Area » Clay Center, Nebraska » U.S. Meat Animal Research Center » Genetics and Animal Breeding » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #365197
Research Project: Developing a Systems Biology Approach to Enhance Efficiency and Sustainability of Beef and Lamb Production

Location: Genetics and Animal Breeding

Title: Lamb wool shedding is a good predictor of ewe wool shedding

Author
item VARGAS JURADO, NAPOLEON - University Of Nebraska
item Kuehn, Larry
item LEWIS, RONALD - University Of Nebraska

Submitted to: Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/2/2019
Publication Date: 11/12/2019
Citation: Vargas Jurado, N., Kuehn, L.A., Lewis, R.M. 2019. Lamb wool shedding is a good predictor of ewe wool shedding. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics. 137(4):365-373. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbg.12449.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jbg.12449

Interpretive Summary: Wool shearing can be a significant expense in sheep production. This cost can be eliminated by using breeds that do not grow wool or that annually shed wool. However, some breeds and breed-crosses exhibit variable levels of wool shedding. In these cases, selection for increased wool shedding had been shown to be possible in previous work. However, waiting for shedding records in adult ewes, the goal trait to change through selection, can delay selection. This study examined the relationship between wool shedding observed in lambs and wool shedding observed in ewes. Based on the strength of this relationship, selecting based on records in lambs could be used to effectively increase wool shedding in adult ewes.

Technical Abstract: Interest in reducing labour costs due to shearing has led to development of breed types that shed their wool naturally. Selection at young ages can facilitate response. Reliability of predictions of adult from lamb wool shedding (WS) is thus key in the design of breeding programmes to increase shedding. Our objectives were to estimate heritabilities and genetic relationships between WS measured once in lambs and repeatedly in ewes and to assess the accuracy of lamb WS EBV to predict ewe WS EBV based on a multi-trait threshold or a repeatability model. Data were 4,971 lamb and 3,335 ewe WS records on a Romanov, White Dorper and Katahdin composite flock. For the multivariate model, WS heritability ranged from 0.47 ± 0.03 in lambs to 0.59 ± 0.04 at 1 year of age. For the repeatability model, WS in adult ewes was moderately heritable (0.50 ± 0.03) and repeatable (0.60 ± 0.02). Genetic correlations were 0.72 ± 0.04, 0.65 ± 0.05, 0.50 ± 0.09 and 0.51 ± 0.09 between lamb WS and 1st through 4th record, respectively. Given the moderately high heritability and high correlations between WS performance in lambs and ewes, selecting animals early in life would effectively increase WS in crossbred flocks.