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Estimates of sire of fetus effects on production traits of Pitangueiras cows

João Francisco Pereira Bastos^I; José de Carvalho Reis^II; Raysildo Barbosa Lôbo^III

^IDepartamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Engenharia de Ilha Solteira, 15378-000 Ilha Solteira, SP, Brasil. Send correspondence to J.F.P.B.
^IIDepartamento de Zootecnia, Universidade Federal Rural do Pernambuco, 51000-000, Recife, PE, Brasil
^IIIDepartamento de Genética, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, USP, 14049-900 Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil

ABSTRACT

2,287 records of milk yield (MY), fat yield (FY) and fat percentage (F%) of 618 Pitangueiras cows (3/8 Zebu, 5/8 Red Poll), daughters of 82 sires (SOC), mated with 68 sires of fetus (SOF) were analysed to estimate the magnitude of sire of fetus effects on the productive traits. Statistical analysis were made with least-squares procedures, proposed by Harvey (User's guide for LSMLMW, Wooster, Ohio State University, 1987). The SOF effects estimates, expressed as a percentage of total variance, were 0.81, 1.67 and 6.43 for MY, FY and F%, respectively. These results suggest that inclusion of sire of fetus effects in the analysis can improve the results of progeny tests and the estimates of breeding values of tested sires.

Keywords: sire; fetus; production traits; Pitangueiras cows.

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