Genetic and environmental variance and covariance parameters for some reproductive traits of Holstein and Jersey cattle in Antioquia (Colombia)

Abstract

The objective of this study was to estimate the genetic, phenotypic and environmental parameters for calving interval (CI), days open (DO), number of services per conception (NSC) and conception rate (CR) in Holstein and Jersey cattle in Antioquia (Colombia). Variance and covariance component estimates were obtained by an animal model that was solved using the derivative-free restricted maximum likelihood method. The means and standard deviations for CI, DO, NSC and CR were: 430.32±77.93 days, 127.15±76.96 days, 1.58±1.03 services per conception and 79.88±28.66% in Holstein cattle, and 409.33±86.48 days, 125.62±86.09 days, 1.48±0.98 services per conception and 84.08±27.23% in Jersey cattle, respectively. The heritability estimates (standard errors) were: 0.088(0.037), 0.082(0.037), 0.040(0.025) and 0.030(0.026) in Holstein cattle and 0.072(0.098), 0.090(0.104), 0.093(0.097) and 0.147(0.117) in Jersey cattle, respectively. The results show that the genetic, phenotypic and permanent environmental correlations in the two evaluated breeds were favorable for CI × DO, CI × NSC and DO × NSC, but not for CI × CR, DO × CR and NSC × CR. Genetic and permanent environmental correlations were high in most cases in Holstein cattle, whereas in Jersey cattle they were moderate. In contrast, phenotypic correlations were very low in both breeds, except for CI × DO and NSC × CR, which were high. Overall, the genetic component found was very low (<8%) in both evaluated breeds and this implies that their selection would take long time and that a good practical management of the herd will be essential in order to improve the reproductive performance.