Abstract
Ostrich females producing eggs in the absence of males was a major breakthrough for the development of an artificial insemination ( AI ) protocol. This study evaluated monthly egg production ( EP ) and average egg weight ( EW ) for 71 individually penned female ostriches from 2009 to 2020 and estimated the genetic parameters for these traits. EP was highly variable compared to EW (coefficients of variation: 124.9 vs. 10.27%, respectively). EP continued throughout the year with maxima from July to December and minima in February and May. The two-trait heritability ( h 2 ) for EP was low at 0.13, while EW had a higher h 2 of 0.40. EP and EW were not genetically correlated. The genetic improvement of EP and EW for females used for AI is feasible. Further studies should target incubation and hatching traits after AI.
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