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Heritability Estimates of Conjugated Linoleic Acid Isomers in Brisket Adipose Tissue of Canadian Crossbred Beef Steers
Heritability of 17 conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) isomers in brisket adipose tissue was estimated based on data of 223 crossbred Canadian commercial beef steers. Heritability estimates for CLA isomers were low to moderate, ranging from 0.06±0.10 (9t,11t-18:2;10t,12t-18:2) to 0.45±0.11 (12c,14t-18:2) with an average of 0.17. Fourteen of the 17 CLA isomers investigated had heritability estimates smaller than 0.20. The most abundant CLA isomer 9c,11t-18:2, which accounted for 62.5% of total CLA quantified, had a low heritability estimate of 0.13±0.11. The heritability estimates from this study may provide insight into the direct genetic control of host genes on CLA content in beef tissues and facilitate design of genetic selection and/or genetic based diet management systems to improve CLA content in beef.
Keywords:
beef cattle
heritability
conjugated linoleic acids
