Abstract
The frequency of eye infections in the Finnish blue fox population has increased during the past decade. Eye infection may incur economic losses to producers due to reduced selection intensity. Ethical aspects also need to be considered, since eye infection reduces animal wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for eye infection (EYE) and to determine the genetic correlations between EYE, pelt character and animal size traits. The heritability estimate for EYE was moderate (0.22), suggesting that the blue fox is genetically susceptible to eye infection. EYE had a moderate antagonistic genetic correlation (-0.39) with pelt guard hair coverage (pGC) and a low negative genetic correlation with pelt length (pSIcm) and grading size (gSI) (-0.23 and -0.27, respectively). Our results suggest that the antagonistic connections between EYE, pelt quality and size traits should be accounted in Finnish blue fox breeding value evaluation by using a multi-trait animal model.
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