Genetic evaluation for fi ber length and fi ber diameter of Inner Mongolia Cashmere Goats at different staple length

ZHIHONG LIU, RUI SU, HONGWEI LI, ZHIYINGWANG, XUEWU LI, JINQUAN LI, YANJUN ZHANG, ZHENYU WANG, QING NA, RUIJUN WANG, LIBIN HE

Abstract: The genetic parameters for fl eece traits of Inner Mongolian Cashmere Goat at different staple length were investigated. Data was collected with 4178 repeat records from 2008 to 2011 in a breeding farm of Inner Mongolia White Cashmere Goats (IMCGs). IMCGs were divided into three types based on staple length which named short-staple length (SSL), intermediatestaple length (ISL) and long-staple length (LSL). The genetic parameters of fi ber length (FL) and fi ber diameter (FD) were estimated under the repeatability and multivariate animal model with the AIREML method using the WOMBAT software in the three types. The heritabilities were 0.21±0.04, 0.30±0.03 and 0.39±0.04 for FL of SSL, ISL and LSL, respectively, which belong to moderate heritability. Heritabilities for FD were moderate in SSL, ISL and LSL (0.23±0.03, 0.25±0.0.02 and 0.29±0.04). The genetic correlation between FL and FD were negative in the SSL, ISL and LSL (-0.23±0.01,-0.23±0.03 and -0.48±0.01). Phenotypic and genetic correlations of FL were higher than 0.48 and 0.93 in three types. And the phenotypic and genetic correlations for FD were higher than 0.60 and 0.95 in three types. The results show that the phenotypic selection for staple length are possible to increase the FL and decrease FD and genetic progress can be achieved quickly in IMCGs by
selection the LSL as the breeding stock.

Keywords: Cashmere goats; genetic correlation; heritability; phenotypic selection

Date published: 2019-04-09