Genetic Parameters for Growth Traits of the Hungarian Merino and Meat Sheep Breeds in Hungary

Heritabilities and genetic correlations between weaning weight (WW) and average daily gain (ADG) for the Hungarian Merino, Ile de France, Charollais, German Mutton Merino, German Blackheaded, Texel, Fleisch Merino and Suffolk were studied. The selection of replacements is based on the two traits. The amount of records provided by the Hungarian Sheep Breeder’s Association and by the Hungarian Agriculture Department varied by breeds (462-124680). The general linear model included sex, birth type and age of dam as fixed effects, while maternal permanent environment, the birth flockyear-season and animal genetic effect as random effects. The heritability of WW varied between 0.09±0.02 and 0.62±0.09, for ADG it varied between 0.16±0.01 and 0.28±0.01. The rg varied between 0.10±0.02 and 0.44±0.09. The permanent environmental variance ratio varied between 0.009±0.007 and 0.06±0.01. The models and parameters calculated by the REML method varied by breeds that necessitates a separate genetic evaluation by breeds.