Estimation of Genetic Correlation and Heritability for body conformations of three Rabbit Breeds from a 3 x 3 diallel crossing

Abstract

The genetic improvement of animals is fundamentally dependent on a thorough understanding of genetic parameters associated with economically important traits, among which heritability and genetic correlations are particularly critical. This study was conducted using New Zealand White
(NZW), Chinchilla (CHC) and California White (CAW) breeds of rabbits and their progenies to estimate genetic correlations and heritability within the breeding groups. Thirty-six (36) rabbits, comprising nine (9) bucks (3 per breed) and twenty-seven (27) does (9 per breed) were mated at ratio1:3. Different parameters measured on both the parents and their progenies according to the different breeding groups includes Weaning weight (WW), Body Weight (BW), Body Length (BL), Body Width (BW), Shoulder to Tail length (ST), Ear Length (EL), Tail Length (TL), Length of Fore Limb (LFL) and Length of Hind Limb (LHL) from 4th week of age until 16th week of age. The results revealed that genetic correlation (rg) between birth weight and weaning weight was found to be negative in all the crosses except in male CAW x female NZW that yielded 0.05. Correlation between 12th week body weight and body length were positive for all the crosses except male NZW x female CHC, male CHC x NZW female and male CAW x female CAW that had -0.45,-0.06 and -0.56 2 respectively. Heritability (h ) estimates from the linear body measurement were generally low to high 2 ranging from 0.20 to 0.86 in all the weeks. However, male CAW x female CHC had the better h compared to other pure and crossbred rabbits at all age considered. It could be concluded from this study that these correlated response and heritability could be exploited on genetic improvement for economic traits in rabbits while using crossbreeding.