Genetic Relationship of Eye Infection and Grading Traits in Finnish Blue Fox

Abstract Text: The frequency of eye infections in the Finnish blue fox population has increased during the past decade. Eye infection may incur economic losses to producers due to reduced selection intensity. Ethical aspects also need to be considered, since eye infection reduces animal wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for eye infection (EYE) and to determine the genetic and phenotypic correlations between EYE, grading traits and animal size traits. The data were collected from 2,076 blue foxes. Heritability estimate for EYE was moderate (0.24), suggesting that selection can be used to change susceptibility to eye infection. EYE had a moderate antagonistic genetic correlation (-0.46) with grading density (thick underfur).  The genetic correlation with grading size and body condition score (fatness) was estimated without precision, but all the phenotypic size traits had low antagonistic correlation with EYE.

Keywords:

blue fox

eye disease

grading traits