ESTIMATES OF GENETIC CORRELATIONS AMONG GROWTH AND CARCASS TRAITS OF CROSSBRED BEEF CATTLE FROM SIX STATE EXPERIMENT STATIONS COOPERATING IN THE NC-196 REGIONAL PROJECT

Authors: BARKHOUSE, KRISTEN - UNIV. OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN; Van Vleck, Lloyd; Cundiff, Larry; BUCHANAN, D. - OKLAHOMA STATE UNIV.; MARSHALL, DON - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV.

Submitted to: Journal of Animal Science Supplement
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/10/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Growth and carcass trait records from crossbred beef cattle representing 3708 progeny of 339 sires of twelve breeds were used to obtain within station and pooled REML estimates of heritabilities (diagonal), genetic (upper triangle) and phenotypic (lower triangle) correlations. Measurements on birth weight (BWT), weaning weight (WWT), hot carcass weight (HCWT), fat tthickness (FT), ribeye area (REA), kidney, pelvic and heart fat (KPH), and marbling (MAR) were analyzed using REMLPK program of K. Meyer with a sire model which included fixed effects for birth year, breed of sire, breed of dam, age of dam, and sex of calf and covariates to adjust to constant age. Pooled estimates of heritabilities ranged from .11 plus/minus .09 for WWT to .54 plus/minus .08 for REA. Growth traits were generally positively correlated with each other but negatively correlated with MAR.