EVALUATION OF ANIMAL MODELS AND GENETIC PARAMETERS OF MILK PRODUCTION IN GABALY BALADI BLACK RABBITS USING THE DF-REML PROCEDURE

Abstract

Number of litters collected from Gabaly (G) and Baladi Black (BB) rabbits respectively, and used to evaluate weekly milk yield (MY) and litter weight gain (LG) from kindling up to the end of 4^th wk (28 days) of age, were 131 and 155 records for the evaluation of (MY) while 128 and 155 litters were used for the evaluation of litter gain (LG),. Flocks of the two breeds were raised at the Experimental Rabbitry, Animal Production Research Institute, Borg El-Arab Alexandria Governorate, Egypt. Derivative Free Restricted Maximum Likelihood (DF-REML) Animal Model was used for the estimation of variance components and heritability.

G rabbits recorded relative superiority in performance over that of BB ones for the milk yield traits. Year-season combination exerted significant effect on litter gain in G rabbits. The performance of rabbit does for the traits studied increased significantly (P ≤ 0.01; P ≤ 0.001; P ≤ 0.0001) in winter and autumn seasons compared to spring seasons irrespective of the year of production.  Heritability estimates were low and ranged from 0.001 to 0.03 for MY and from 0.001 to 0.02 for LG in G, while varied from 0.001 to 0.07 for MY and from 0.001 to 0.03 for LG in BB rabbits.