Genetic analysis of robustness in meat sheep through body weight and body condition score changes over time.

ABSTRACT: Animal robustness may be defined as a complex trait characterizing the ability of an individual to be adapted, productive and healthy under contrasted and fluctuating environmental situations. Such a trait is now considered an essential criterion in order to meet the more ambitious goals of farming sustainability. In ruminants, one of the key mechanisms via which robustness is expressed is the capacity to mobilize or restore body reserves (BR) to cope with the challenges of negative energy balances. The objectives of this work were as follows: 1) to estimate the genetic parameters related to BR dynamics in ewes over successive production cycles and 2) to investigate BR management relationships between different physiological stages. For this, historical individual BW and BCS data from 2,92

SUBMITTER: Mace T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6247844 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature