Genetic Correlations Between Days to Calving and Other Male and Female Reproduction Traits in Brahman Cattle

Abstract

Heritabilities and genetic correlations for male and female reproduction traits were estimated for Brahman cattle raised in northern Australia. The traits included the female reproduction traits of days to calving (DC), age at puberty (AP) and lactation anoestrous interval (LAI). Days to calving using repeat records (DCr) was further considered as separate DC traits for first (DC1) and second parity (DC2) records, as well as a simple binary trait for calving rate (CR). Male reproduction traits included scrotal circumference (SC) and percent normal sperm (PNS) measured in young bulls. The heritability estimates for DCr, CR, DC1, DC2, AP, LAI, SC and PNS, were 0.09, 0.10, 0.09, 0.15, 0.47, 0.40, 0.44 and 0.15, respectively. Genetic correlations between DC1 and AP, LAI, SC and PNS were 0.62, 0.52, -0.32 and -0.66, respectively. For DC2, the genetic correlation with DC1, AP, LAI, SC and PNS were 0.46, 0.56, 1.0, -0.29 and -0.71, respectively. The study has shown that the various reproduction traits were heritable. The 0.46 genetic correlation between DC1 and DC2 suggests they should be considered as separate traits in genetic evaluation and this would allow fitting different genetic correlations with important component traits. Improvement of the genetic evaluation will increase accuracies of female reproduction EBVs and allow more genetic progress in tropical beef breeds in northern Australia.