CSIRO Publishing blank image blank image blank image blank imageBooksblank image blank image blank image blank imageJournalsblank image blank image blank image blank imageAbout Usblank image blank image blank image blank imageShopping Cartblank image blank image blank image You are here: Journals > Reproduction, Fertility and Development   
Reproduction, Fertility and Development
Journal Banner
  Vertebrate Reproductive Science & Technology
 
blank image Search
 
blank image blank image
blank image
 
  Advanced Search
   

Journal Home
About the Journal
Editorial Board
Contacts
Content
Online Early
Current Issue
Just Accepted
All Issues
Special Issues
Research Fronts
Sample Issue
For Authors
General Information
Instructions to Authors
Submit Article
Open Access
For Referees
Referee Guidelines
Review Article
For Subscribers
Subscription Prices
Customer Service
Print Publication Dates

blue arrow e-Alerts
blank image
Subscribe to our email Early Alert or RSS feeds for the latest journal papers.

red arrow Connect with us
blank image
facebook   youtube

Affiliated Societies

RFD is the official journal of the International Embryo Transfer Society and the Society for Reproductive Biology.


 

Article << Previous     |     Next >>   Contents Vol 24(3)

Evidence of the genetic trend for secondary sex ratio in Iranian Holsteins

Navid Ghavi Hossein-Zadeh A B

A Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Guilan, Rasht, PO Box: 41635-1314, Iran.
B Emails: nhosseinzadeh@guilan.ac.ir; navid.hosseinzadeh@gmail.com

Reproduction, Fertility and Development 24(3) 438-442 http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/RD11203
Submitted: 6 June 2011  Accepted: 14 September 2011   Published: 9 November 2011


 
PDF (216 KB) $25
 Export Citation
 Print
  
Abstract

Calving records from the Animal Breeding Center of Iran collected from January 2000 to December 2007 and comprising 520 964 Holstein calving events from 2135 herds were analysed using animal and sire models to estimate variance components, heritabilities and genetic trends for secondary sex ratio (SSR) in the first, second and third parities. Direct heritabilities for SSR ranged from 0.00004 to 0.001 over the parities. The linear sire model estimate of heritabilities for SSR in the present study was from 0.0002 to 0.0008 over the parities. There were positive phenotypic and genetic trends for female rate in Iranian Holsteins over the years. Exploitable genetic variation in SSR can take advantage of sexual dimorphism for economically important traits, which may facilitate greater selection intensity and thus greater response to selection, as well as reducing the replacement costs. On the other hand, increasing genetic and phenotypic trends for female rate in the population under study could be partly assigned to increased use of new reproductive technologies in dairy herds; therefore, dairy farmers have the option to select from among their herd’s potential dams and produce dairy replacement heifers from only the genetically superior animals, thus promoting enhanced rates of genetic gain.

Additional keywords: dairy cow, genetic correlation, heritability, maternal effect.


References

Bar-Anan, R., and Robertson, A. (1975). Variation in sex ratio between progeny groups in dairy cattle. Theor. Appl. Genet. 46, 63–65.

Berry, D. P., Kearney, J. F., and Roche, J. R. (2011). Evidence of genetic and maternal effects on secondary sex ratio in cattle. Theriogenology 75, 1039–1044.
CrossRef | CAS | PubMed |

Chandler, J. E., Steinholt-Chenevert, H. C., Adkinson, R. W., and Moser, E. B. (1998). Sex ratio variation between ejaculates within sire evaluated by polymerase chain reaction, calving and farrowing records. J. Dairy Sci. 81, 1855–1867.
CrossRef | CAS | PubMed |

De Vries, A., Overton, M., Fetrow, J., Leslie, K., Eicker, S., and Rogers, G. (2008). Exploring the impact of sexed semen on the structure of the dairy industry. J. Dairy Sci. 91, 847–856.
CrossRef | CAS | PubMed |

Fisher, R. A. (1930). ‘The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection’. (Oxford University Press: Clarendon, Oxford.)

Ghavi Hossein-Zadeh, N., Nejati-Javaremi, A., Miraei-Ashtiani, S. R., and Kohram, H. (2008). An observational analysis of twin births, calf stillbirth, calf sex ratio and abortion in Iranian Holsteins. J. Dairy Sci. 91, 4198–4205.
CrossRef |

Ghavi Hossein-Zadeh, N., Nejati-Javaremi, A., Miraei-Ashtiani, S. R., and Kohram, H. (2009). Estimation of variance components and genetic trends for twinning rate in Holstein dairy cattle of Iran. J. Dairy Sci. 92, 3411–3421.
CrossRef | CAS | PubMed |

Gianola, D. (1982). Theory and analysis of threshold characters. J. Anim. Sci. 54, 1079–1096.

Gray, E., and Hurt, V. K. (1979). Distribution of sexes in cattle. J. Hered. 70, 273–274.
| CAS | PubMed |

Hardy, I. C. W. (2002). Sex ratios. In ‘Concepts and Research Methods’. (Ed. I. C. W. Hardy.) pp. 112–131. (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.)

Hosmer, D., and Lemeshow, S. (2000). ‘Applied Logistic Regression’. 2nd edn. (Wiley-Interscience, John Wiley & Sons: New York.)

Jurado, J. J., Alonso, A., and Alenda, R. (1994). Selection response for growth in Spanish Merino flock. J. Anim. Sci. 72, 1433–1440.
| CAS | PubMed |

Matos, C. A., Thomas, D. L., Gianola, D., Tempelman, R. J., and Young, L. D. (1997). Genetic analysis of discrete reproductive traits in sheep using linear and nonlinear models: I. Estimation of genetic parameters. J. Anim. Sci. 75, 76–87.
| CAS | PubMed |

Miglior, F. (1999). Selection for fertility traits. In ‘Proceedings of the 24th Environmental Health Foundation of Canada (EHFC) Meeting’. pp. 110–114. (Aubum, Ontario.) http://cgil.uoguelph.ca/pub/Miglior/106.pdf

Pryce, J. E., and Veerkamp, R. F. (2001). The incorporation of fertility indices in genetic improvement programmes. In ‘Fertility in the High-Producing Dairy Cow’. Occasional Publication No 26. (Ed. M. G. Diskin.) pp. 223–36. (British Society of Animal Science: Edinburgh.)

Roche, J. R., Lee, J. M., and Berry, D. P. (2006a). Pre-conception energy balance and secondary sex ratio – support for the Trivers–Willard hypothesis in dairy cows. J. Dairy Sci. 89, 2119–2125.
CrossRef | CAS | PubMed |

Roche, J. R., Lee, J. M., and Berry, D. P. (2006b). Climatic factors and secondary sex ratio in dairy cows. J. Dairy Sci. 89, 3221–3227.
CrossRef | CAS | PubMed |

SAS Institute (2002). User’s Guide: Statistics, Version 9.1 Edition. (SAS Inst. Inc.: Cary, NC, USA.)

Toro, M. A., Fernández, A., García-Cortés, L. A., Rodrigáñez, J., and Silió, L. (2006). Sex ratio variation in Iberian pigs. Genetics 173, 911–917.
CrossRef | CAS | PubMed |

Trivers, R. L., and Willard, D. (1973). Natural selection of parental ability to vary the sex ratio of offspring. Science 179, 90–92.
CrossRef | CAS | PubMed |

Wang, T., Fernando, R. I., and Kachman, D. S. (2001). MATVEC user’s guide. (Department of Biometry, University of Nebraska: Lincoln.)

Xu, Z. Z., Johnson, D. L., and Burton, L. J. (2000). Factors affecting the sex ratio in dairy cattle in New Zealand. Proc. N.Z. Soc. Anim. Prod. 60, 301–302.


   
Subscriber Login
Username:
Password:  

 
    
Legal & Privacy | Contact Us | Help

CSIRO

© CSIRO 1996-2013