Abstract
The aim of this study was to estimate genetic parameters of 26 individual and four composite type traits in first parity Cika cows. An analysis of variance was performed with the generalized linear model procedure of the SAS/STAT statistical package, where the fixed effects of year of recording, cow’s age at recording and days after calving as a linear regression were included in the model. The variance components for the direct additive genetic effect and the herd effect in all type traits were estimated using the REML method in the VCE-6 software package. The estimated heritabilities ranged from 0.42 to 0.67 for the measured body frame traits, from 0.36 to 0.80 for the scored autochthonous traits, from 0.11 to 0.61 for the scored body frame traits, and from 0.20 to 0.47 for the scored udder traits. The estimated heritabilities for the composite traits called “autochthonous characteristics”, “muscularity”, “body frame” and “udder” were 0.55, 0.19, 0.19, and 0.26, respectively. The estimated genetic correlations among the measured body frame traits were positive and high, while the majority of them among the scored body frame traits were low to moderate. The estimated proportions of variance explained by the herd effect for the composite traits “autochthonous characteristics,” “muscularity,” “body frame” and “udder” were 0.09, 0.28, 0.14, and 0.10, respectively. The estimated heritabilities for the type traits of first parity Cika cows were similar to those reported for other breeds where breeding values have been routinely predicted for a long time. All estimated genetic parameters are already used for breeding value prediction in the Cika cattle population.
Highlights
Cika cattle is a Slovenian autochthonous dual-purpose breed
The data were obtained from the Central database for cattle kept by the Agricultural Institute in Slovenia, which included information from the type traits recording of Slovenian first parity Cika cows scored in the years from 2006 to 2019
We assumed that the type trait recording was intended for first parity cows, so we limited the age at recording to a maximum of 1,460 days or 4 years as recommended by de Haas et al (2007) and a minimum of 607 days
Summary
Cika cattle is a Slovenian autochthonous dual-purpose breed. Cika cattle are widespread all over Slovenia, especially in their regions of origin (Bohinj, Kamnik, Tolmin). The coat color pattern is red pied sided, which is typical for this breed and very different from other cattle breeds in Slovenia. Some Cika animals have a coat color pattern similar to Pinzgauer cattle and some to Tux-Zillertaler cattle from Austria (Sambraus, 1999). Cika cattle form an Eastern Alpine breed cluster with Pinzgauer and Pustertaler cattle. Cika cattle are considered as an authentic and valuable genetic resource (Felius et al, 2011; Simčič et al, 2013). The possibility of excluding admixed animals (sires and sire dams) from the Cika cattle breeding program using SNP haplotypes has been reported in detail elsewhere (Simčič et al, 2015a,b)
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