Evidence of maternal and paternal age effects on speed in thoroughbred racehorses.

ABSTRACT: Effects of parental age on offspring viability have been reported in a wide range of species. However, to what extent parental age influences offspring traits beyond viability remains unclear. Moreover, previous research has primarily focused on maternal age effects. The purpose of this study was to test for paternal and maternal age effects on offspring speed in thoroughbred racehorses. We analysed over 900 000 race performances by over 100 000 horses on British racecourses between 1996 and 2019. With knowledge of the age of all 41 107 dams and 2 887 sires at offspring conception, we jointly modelled maternal and paternal age effects using a 'within-individual centring' approach. Within-parents, we identified a significant effect of maternal age on offspring speed of -0.017 yards s^-1

SUBMITTER: Sharman P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9532991 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature