ESTIMATION OF VARIANCE-COMPONENTS FOR FILIAL AND MATERNAL EFFECTS IN TURKISH ANGORA-GOATS

Information about genetic parameters in Angora goats is scarce. The performance traits are often measured in the young animal, and hence likely to be affected by maternal effects. The objective of this study was to estimate genetic (co)variance components using an animal model that accounted for relationships amongst animals and for maternal effects. The age-corrected weaning weight (100 days) and yearling's fleece weight (first shearing) were studied. Due to computational limitations, the data sets for both traits were split into four subsets of 1100 to 1500 observations each. REML (iterative MIVQUE) was used to estimate the parameters. The mean filial and maternal heritabilities for weaning weight were 0.034 and 0.096 resp. Both components had a strong positive correlation (r(fm) = 0.91). For fleece weight, a mean filial heritability of 0.057 was estimated. In one data set, a maternal heritability of 0.035 was found. Besides the strong and unknown environmental components, the tendency towards rounding off the measurements, obvious from the frequency plot of the measured fleece weights, as well as problems with sire identification could have caused the small estimates of the genetic variance components, especially in the mohair trait.