Publications by authors named "Doraiswamy Cauveri"
The progression of genetic selection techniques to enhance farm animal performance traits is guided by the present level of genetic variation and maternal impact in each trait, as well as the genetic association between traits. This study was conducted on a population of Mecheri sheep maintained from 1980 to 2018 at Mecheri Sheep Research Station, Pottaneri, India, to determine variance and covariance components, as well as genetic parameters for various production performance traits. A total of 2616 lambs, produced by 1044 dams and 226 sires, were examined in the study and the production traits of Mecheri sheep assessed include birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), six-month weight (SMW), nine-month weight (NMW), and yearling weight (YW).
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- Understanding genetic and non-genetic variations in Mecheri sheep is key to their conservation and improvement, with a study involving 2,616 lambs examining these factors through various animal models.
- The study found significant impacts from elements like period, season, and the dam's parity on body-weight traits, with direct heritability estimates for body weights varying from 0.09 to 0.24 at different ages.
- Genetic correlations between body-weight traits were mostly positive, and the investigation suggested using weaning weight as a selection criterion to enhance body weight, while noting that inbreeding levels were relatively low at about 13% of the population.