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Genetic Parameters of Body Condition Score and Growth Traits of Nellore Cows
Data of 9,660 cows were recorded from ten Brazilian Nellore cattle herds. Body condition score (BCS) was measured at weaning. The following sources of variation was included in the BCS model: contemporary group, reconception, calving order, age at first calving, calving interval, gestation length, hip height (HH), long yearling weight (YW) and mature weight (MW) of cows, and the weaning weight and scores of conformation, early finishing and muscling assigned to calves at weaning. The genetic parameters were estimated by Bayesian inference using an animal model. The heritability estimates for BCS (0.22) and HH (0.23) were moderate, and high for YW (0.48) and MW (0.36). BCS was negatively correlated with HH (-0.72) and with YW (-0.17), whereas with MW the estimate was positive and weak (0.19). The results suggested that BCS could be used as an indirect measured of HH.
Keywords:
beef cattle
hip height
performance
