Determination of the best nonlinear function and genetic parameter estimates of early growth in Romane lambs

Document Type : Research Article (Regular Paper)

Authors

1 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

2 Animal science, Faculty of Agriculture

3 GenPhySE, INRAE, Université de Toulouse, INPT, ENVT, F 31326 Castanet Tolosan, France

Abstract

The objectives of this study were a) to compare growth functions for describing the early growth curve of Romane sheep based on weighing records, b) to estimate the heritability of the growth curve parameters, and c) to estimate genetic parameters for 90-days-old bodyweight utilizing the data of earlier age. The raw data included 662 lambs (316 males and 346 females) bred at the Romane Sheep Research Center, INRAE, France. The studied trait was the bodyweight of lambs at birth, 15, 21, 35, 60, and 90 days of age. The number of measurements was approximately six for each animal. Dataset after mining consisted of 3261 weight records of 574 lambs. We applied four non-linear growth functions, including Gompertz, Brody, Logistic, and Richard. The goodness of fit of the included models were compared using the Akaike information criterion (AIC), coefficient of determination (R2) and residual mean square (MSE). Predicting abilities of the included models were evaluated by comparing the predicted and observed phenotypes until 90 days of age. Genetic parameters of the non-linear functions were obtained using a specific two steps approach; in first step, the parameters of the different functions were estimated, and in the second, the parameters were considered as observations and we analyzed them using a multiple trait animal models. Residual mean square and R2 for the models of Brody, Gompertz, Logistic and Richards were 106.71 and 0.37, 4.79 and 0.94, 7.41 and 0.88, and 9.04 and 0.88, respectively. The Logistic function had the smallest AIC and MSE values, and also had the highest R2 value, indicating the best fit. The estimated heritability of the parameters in the logistic function were low (ranging from 0.007 to 0.017). In our study, the correlation between BV90 and BV35 was 0.5419 with a confidence interval of 0.469 - 0.608. Since BV90 and BV35 have a positive genetic correlation, BV35 could be used to select the lambs for best growth until the slaughter age of Romane using the Logistic model

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

References
Abegaz, S., Van Wyk, J., Olivier, J., 2005. Model comparisons and genetic and environmental parameter estimates of growth and the Kleiber ratio in Horro sheep. South African Journal of Animal Science 35, 30-40.
Aktaş, A.H., Dursun, Ş., Doğan, Ş., Kiyma, Z., Demirci, U., Halıcı, İ., 2015. Effects of ewe live weight and age on reproductive performance, lamb growth, and survival in Central Anatolian Merino sheep. Archives of Animal Breeding  58, 451-459.
Austin, S.H., Robinson, T.R., Robinson, W.D., Ricklefs, R.E., 2011. Potential biases in estimating the rate parameter of sigmoid growth functions. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 2, 43-51.
Bahreini Behzadi, M.R., Aslaminejad, A.A., Sharifi, A.R., Simianer, H., 2014. Comparison of mathematical models for describing the growth of Baluchi sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology 16, 57-68.
Bangar, Y.C., Magotra, A., Malik, B.S., Malik, Z.S., 2021. Evaluation of growth curve traits and associated genetic parameters in Harnali sheep. Small Ruminant Research 195, 106314.
Bathaei, S.S., Leroy, P.L., 1998. Genetic and phenotypic aspects of the growth curve characteristics in Mehraban Iranian fat-tailed sheep. Small Ruminant Research 29, 261-269.
Beltran, J.J., Butts, W.T., Olson, T.A. and Koger, M., 1992. Growth pattern of two lines of Angus cattle selected using predicted growth parameters. Journal of Animal Science 70, 734-741.
Bertalanffy, V., 1957. Quantitative laws in metabolism and growth. Quarterly Reviews of Biology 32, 217-231.
Brody, S., 1945. Bioenergetics and Growth. Reinhold Publishing Corporation, New York, USA.
Brunner, N., Kühleitner, M., 2020. The growth of domestic goats and sheep: a meta study with Bertalanffy-Pütter models. Veterinary and Animal Science 10, 100135.
Chen, C.Y., Kachman, S.D., Johnson, R.K., Van Vleck, L.D., 2008. Estimation of genetic parameters for average daily gain using models with competition effects. Journal of Animal Science 86, 2525-2530.
Cramer, J.S., 2002. The Origins of Logistic Regression. Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper.
        Faculty of Economics and Econometrics, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
David, I., Bouvier, F., Ricard, E., Ruesche, J., Weisbecker, J.L., 2013. No direct by maternal effects interaction detected for pre-weaning growth in Romane sheep using a reaction norm model. Genetics Selection Evolution 45, 1-7.
Fitzhugh, H.A.J., 1976. Analysis of growth curves and strategies for altering their shape. Journal of Animal Science 42, 1036–1051.
Forni, S., Piles, M., Blasco, A., Varona, L., Oliveira, H.N., Lôbo, R.B., Albuquerque, L.G., 2009. Comparison of different nonlinear functions to describe Nelore cattle growth. Journal of Animal Science 87, 496-506.
France, J., Dijkstra, J., Dhanoa, M., 1996. Growth functions and their application in animal science. Annales de zootechnie 45, 165-174.
Girondot, M., Kaska, Y., 2014. A model to predict the thermal reaction norm for the embryo growth rate from field  data. Journal of Thermal Biology 45, 96-102.
Gompertz, B., 1825. On the nature of the function expressive of the law of human mortality and on a new model of determining life contingencies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 115, 513-585.
González-García, E., Hazard, D., 2016. Growth rates of Romane ewe lambs and correlated effects of being mated as hoggets or two-tooth ewes on first offspring performance. Livestock Science 189, 63-69.
Han, A.K., 1987. Non-parametric analysis of a generalized regression model: The maximum rank correlation estimator. Journal of Econometrics 35, 303-316.
Hanset, R.C., Michaux, A.S., 1987. Relationships between growth rate, carcass composition, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and income in four biological types of cattle. Genetic Selection Evolution 19, 225-248.
Jaffrézic, F., Meza, C., Lavielle, M., Foulley, J.L., 2006. Genetic analysis of growth curves using the SAEM algorithm. Genetics Selection Evolution 38, 583-600.
Kenyon, P., Thompson, A., Morris, S., 2014. Breeding ewe lambs successfully to improve lifetime performance. Small Ruminant Research 118, 2–15.
Knight, T.W., Atkinson, D.S., Haack, N.A., Palmer, C.R., Rowland, K.H., 1993. Effects of suckling regime on lamb growth rates and milk yields of Dorset ewes. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research. 36 , 215-222.
Kopuzlu, S., Sezgin, E., Esenbuga, N., Bilgin, O.C., 2014. Estimation of growth curve characteristics of Hemsin male and female sheep. Journal of Applied Animal Research 42, 228-232.
Koumas, A., Papachristoforou, C.,  2008. The effect of artificial rearing on lamb growth and ewe milk production of Chios sheep. In: Book of Abstracts of the 59th Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production. Vilnius, Lithuania.
Lambe, N.R., Navajas, E.A., Simm, G., Bünger, L., 2006. A genetic investigation of various growth models to describe growth of lambs of two  contrasting breeds. Journal of Animal Science 84, 2642-2654.
Lehodey, P., Leroy, B., 1999. Age and growth of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacores) from the western and central Pacific Ocean as indicated by daily growth increments and tagging data. Meeting Report, Oceanic Fisheries Programme. Secretariat of the Pacific Community Noumea,  New Caledonia, Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia.
Lewis, R.M., Emmans, G.C., Simm, G., 2002. Effects of index selection on the carcass composition of sheep given either ad libitum or controlled amounts of food. Animal Science 75, 185-195.
Lonergan, S.M., Topel, D.G. Marple, D.N. 2019. The Science of Animal Growth and Meat Technology. 2ed ed. Iowa, USA.
Lupi, T.M., León, J.M., Nogales, S., Barba, C., Delgado, J.V., 2016. Genetic parameters of traits associated with the growth curve in Segureña sheep. Animal 10, 729-735.
Malhado, C.H.M., Carneiro, P.L.S., Affonso, P.R.A.M., Souza, A.A.O., Sarmento, J.L.R., 2009. Growth curves in Dorper sheep crossed with the local Brazilian breeds, Morada Nova, Rabo Largo, and Santa Inês. Small Ruminant Research 84, 16-21.
Mavrogenis, A.P., Papachristoforou, C. 1990. Use of part lactation records for selection in Chios sheep and Damascus goats. Agricultural Research Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Moore-Ede, M.C., 1986. Physiology of the circadian timing system: predictive versus reactive homeostasis. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 250, 737-752.
Moreira, R.P., Pedrosa, V.B., Falcão, P.R., Sieklicki, M.D.F., Rocha, C.G., Santos, I.C.D.,  Ferreira, E.M., Martins, A.D.S., 2016. Growth curves for Ile de France female sheep raised in feedlot. Semina: Ciências Agrárias 37, 303-310.
Motulsky, H., Christopoulos, A.C., 2004. Fitting models to biological data using linear and nonlinear regression: a practical guide to curve fitting. 1st ed., Oxford University Press, New York. USA.
Petráš, R., Bošeľa, M., Mecko, J., Oszlányi, J., Popa, I., 2014. Height-diameter models for mixed-species forests consisting of spruce, fir, and beech. Folia Forestalia Polonica 56, 93-104.
Ptacek, M., Duchacek, J., Beran, J., Stadnik, L., Nemeckova, D., 2015. Influence of selected factors on growth performance of Suffolk lambs and their crossbreds. Journal of Central European Agriculture 16, 188-196.
Richards, F.J., 1959. A flexible growth function for empirical use. Journal of Experimental Botany 10, 290-300.
Riggio, V., Finocchiaro, R., Bishop, S.C., 2008. Genetic parameters for early lamb survival and growth in Scottish Blackface sheep. Journal of Animal Science 86, 1758-1764.
Sarmento, J.L.R., Torres, R.A., Sousa, W.H., Pereira, C.S., Lopes, P.S., Breda, F.C., 2006. Estimation of genetic parameters for growth traits of Santa Inês sheep using single and multiple-trait models. Zootecnia e Tecnologia e Inspeção de Produtos de Origem Animal 58, 581–589.
SAS, 2012. SAS User’s Guide: Statistics. Version 9.4. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina. USA.SAS.
Splan, R.K., Cundiff, L. V, Dikeman, M.E., Van Vleck, L.D., 2008. Estimates of parameters between direct and maternal genetic effects for weaning weight and direct genetic effects for carcass traits in crossbred cattle.  Journal of Animal Science 80, 3107-3111.
Van der Merwe, D.A., Brand, T.S., Hoffman, L.C., 2019. Application of growth models to different sheep breed types in South Africa. Small Ruminant Research 178, 70–78.
Waldron, D.F., Morris, C.A., Baker, R.L., Johnson, D.L., 1993. Maternal effects for growth traits in beef cattle. Livestock Production Science 34, 57-70.
Zakizadeh, S., 2020. Mathematical description of growth curve in Kurdish sheep using artificial neural network and its comparison with non-linear models. Animal Production Research 9, 45-59 .
Journal of Livestock Science and Technologies
Volume 10, Issue 1
June 2022
Pages 1-9

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics