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Factors influencing gestation length in tropically adapted beef cattle breeds in Northern Australia

Johnston, D.J. and Grant, T. P. (2017) Factors influencing gestation length in tropically adapted beef cattle breeds in Northern Australia. In: AAABG 22nd Conference - Science Enabling Industry Outcomes, Townsville.

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Article Link: http://agbu.une.edu.au/AAABG%202017/89Johnston2239...

Abstract

Records from artificial insemination programs and accurate birth date recording on 812 calves were used to compute gestation length (GL) for 3 tropically adapted beef breeds in northern Australia. Calves were a subset of those generated across 2 years and 2 locations as part of an ongoing beef genetics project in northern Australia. Analyses revealed few fixed effects were significantly influencing the trait, however calf sex was highly significant in all three breeds with males having 2.1, 3.0 and 3.7 days longer GL than females in Droughtmaster, Santa Gertrudis and Brahman, respectively. Large sire differences (up to 13 days) were also observed within each breed, and indicate a large degree of genetic control on the trait. These results have implications for breeding program design, parentage assignment and the development of a genetic evaluation for this trait, both within and across-breeds.

Item Type:Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Business groups:Animal Science
Subjects:Science > Biology > Genetics
Agriculture > Agriculture (General) > Agricultural education > Research. Experimentation
Animal culture > Breeding and breeds
Animal culture > Cattle
Live Archive:17 Aug 2018 03:15
Last Modified:28 Aug 2023 05:30

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