GENETIC ANALYSIS OF BODY WEIGHT TRAITS OF SURTI BUFFALO

Estimation of genetic parameters for body weight traits is important for understanding the genetic basis for growth performance of the animal and for accessing how much improvement is possible in future generations. The data for the present study were collected from breeding and body weight records of the Livestock Research Station, Navsari from 1988-2002. The data pertaining to body weight of 522 Surti buffaloes for body weight at birth, body weight at 3 months, body weight at 6 months and body weight at 12 months were collected. The records were analyzed using least squares analysis procedures. The Harvey (1990) programme was used to estimate the genetic parameters i.e. heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlations by the paternal half sib method. Non-genetic factors, such as period of birth, period of calving, season of birth, and season of calving were incorporated in an appropriate statistical model. BW0, BW3 and BW6 were significantly affected by period of birth and season of birth. The sex of calf significantly affected only body weight at birth. BW12 was not affected by any of the non-genetic factors under study. Body weights at different ages were found to be moderate to highly heritable and were favorably genetically correlated with each other.