A 383 progeny records for Saudi camels were genetically
analysed and evaluated for growth performance of body weights at birth and bimonthly thereafter up to 12 months of age and weight gains at 2-month intervals. Data were analyzed using DFREML procedure to estimate direct additive effects (i.e. direct heritabilites), maternal common
environment and residual variance. Breeding values of camels in this population were predicted for growth traits using an animal model. Phenotypic variations for most growth traits in Saudi camels were moderate or slightly high; ranging from 7.0 to 35.2%. Direct heritabilities (h2) for body weights and gains were moderate or slightly high and
ranging from 0.24 to 0.40. Ratios of maternal common environment for these traits were mostly moderate and ranging from 0.10 to 0.30. The ranges in breeding values for growth traits of animals genetically evaluated (with and without records) were moderate or high. The ranges
were 25.3, 39.6, 61.0, 70.1, 83.7, 104.3, 109.6, 111.0, 102.1, 96.7, 81.0, 115.1, and 96.7 kg for body weight at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 months of age, respectively. While, the ranges in estimates of breeding values for daily gains in weights were 0.270, 0.348, 0.371, 0.471, 0.491, 0.542, and 0.638 kg at intervals of 0-2, 2-4, 4-6, 6-8, 8-10, 10-12, and 0-12 months of age, respectively. Accuracies of breeding values recorded for growth traits were moderate; ranging from 0.46 to 0.75. For list of all the camels with and without records, the additive selection responses per generation (SRA) predicted were moderate or high and nearly similar at different stages of growth (0-12 months); ranging from 5.7 to 12.2 % relative to the actual means of the traits. |
