Publications by authors named "Corentin Fouere"
Article Synopsis
- - This study analyzes gestation length (GL) in 16 cattle breeds using extensive data from over 20 million gestations and one million calf genotypes, revealing breed average GLs ranging from 279.7 to 294.4 days with similar variability across breeds.
- - It finds that direct heritability for GL is moderate to high (0.40-0.67), while maternal heritability is low (0.04-0.06), indicating that calf traits are more influential than maternal traits on GL.
- - The research shows that shorter GLs can lead to higher calf mortality and are linked to dairy cows' milk production, highlighting the potential risks of selecting for reduced GL; further research is
Background: Linear models that are commonly used to predict breeding values in livestock species consider paternal influence solely as a genetic effect. However, emerging evidence in several species suggests the potential effect of non-genetic semen-mediated paternal effects on offspring phenotype. This study contributes to such research by analyzing the extent of non-genetic paternal effects on the performance of Holstein, Montbéliarde, and Normande dairy cows.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- - The study analyzed gestation length (GL) across 16 cattle breeds using extensive databases, finding breed averages varying from 279.7 days in Holsteins to 294.4 days in Blonde d'Aquitaine, with standard deviations ranging between 5.2 to 5.8 days.
- - It determined moderate to high direct heritability for calf traits related to GL (0.40 to 0.67), but low maternal heritability (0.04 to 0.06), indicating that calf traits influence GL more than the mother's traits.
- - The research linked extreme breeding values for GL to higher mortality rates in newborn calves and milk production in mothers, revealing several quantitative trait loci (