Evaluación genética para características de crecimiento en una población de conejos blancos Nueva Zelanda en zona de bosque seco

Objective. To estimate the heritability and predicted genetic values (PGV's) for slaughter live weight (SLW) and daily weight gain (DWG) in a population of white New Zealand (BNZ) rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and to use this information as a selection criterion. Materials and methods. A total of 610 data recorded for SLW and DWG from 150 females and 15 males of the BNZ rabbit breed were analyzed. In the statistical model, the sire was considered as a random effect and the contemporaneous groups sex, year of birth and year of weaning as fixed effects. The analysis of variance components for heritability (h2) and the PGV's for SLW and DGW were carried out in the VCE v. 6.0 program and the breeding values through the animal model using the MTDFRELM software. Results. The average found for SLW and DGW were 1793.6±172.5 g and 19.8±4 g/day, respectively. The analysis of variance for SLW and DGW showed significant differences (p≤0.01), for the sources of variation analyzed in the model. The h2 for SLW and DGW was 0.35±0.09 and 0.21±0.13, respectively. The deviations of the PGV's for SLW ranged from -392.3 gr to 200.1 gr, with a higher proportion of negative PGV's (54.3%). The deviations of the PGV's for DWG, registered a range of -7.1 gr/day to 11.9 gr/day, 63.7% corresponding to negative VGP's. Conclusions. The selection focused on DGW in the population of BNZ rabbits studied is advisable to achieve favorability in the genetic process of the SLW trait.