Residual feed intake as selection tool in South African Bonsmara cattle

dc.contributor.authorSteyn, Yvette
dc.contributor.authorVan Marle-Koster, Este
dc.contributor.authorTheron, Helena E.
dc.contributor.emailevm.koster@up.ac.zaen_US
dc.date.accessioned2014-07-08T09:10:58Z
dc.date.available2014-07-08T09:10:58Z
dc.date.issued2014-06
dc.description.abstractIn South African Bonsmara cattle, feed conversion ratio (FCR) is mostly used as a measure of feed efficiency in selection programs but has the disadvantage of being a ratio trait and unfavourably correlated to weight and mature size. Residual feed intake (RFI) overcomes both these disadvantages. The purpose of this study was to evaluate RFI as a potential trait in a selection programme by determining its correlations with growth related traits as well as other efficiency traits. Data of 5981 Bonsmara bulls that participated in centralised growth tests was analysed. In this study, RFI was calculated within contemporary groups of more than ten animals. The h2 for RFI, FCR and KR were 0.27±0.02, 0.23±0.02 and 0.18±0.02 respectively. The genetic correlation between RFI and FCR, and RFI and KR were 0.65±0.04 and 0.12±0.07 respectively. Correlations approaching zero were estimated between RFI and shoulder height (SH), body length (BL), scrotal circumference (SC), average daily gain (ADG), weaning weight (WW) and metabolic mid-weight (MMW), and a strong correlation of 0.79±0.03 with daily feed intake (DFI). This study shows sufficient genetic variation for RFI to be considered by the Bonsmara breed as a measure of feed efficiency and confirms its independence from growth and size traits.en_US
dc.description.librarianhb2014en_US
dc.description.urihttp://www.elsevier.com/locate/livscien_US
dc.identifier.citationSteyn, Y, Van Marle-Köster, E & Theron, HE 2014, 'Residual feed intake as selection tool in South African Bonsmara cattle', Livestock Science, vol. 164, no. 3, pp. 35-38.en_US
dc.identifier.issn1871-1413 (print)
dc.identifier.issn1878-0490 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1016/j.livsci.2014.03.007
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/40630
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherElsevieren_US
dc.rights© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Notice : this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Livestock Science. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Livestock Science, vol. 164, pp. 35-38, 2014. doi : 10.1016/j.livsci.2014.03.007.en_US
dc.subjectFeed efficiencyen_US
dc.subjectResidual feed intakeen_US
dc.subjectFeed conversion ratioen_US
dc.subjectKleiber ratioen_US
dc.subjectBonsmara cattleen_US
dc.titleResidual feed intake as selection tool in South African Bonsmara cattleen_US
dc.typePostprint Articleen_US

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