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Genetic and environmental effects on semen traits in Lacaune and Manech tête rousse AI rams (Open Access publication)

Genetics Selection Evolution volume 39, Article number: 405 (2007) Cite this article

Abstract

Data from 51 107 and 11 839 ejaculates collected on rams of the "Lacaune" and "Manech tête rousse" breeds, respectively, were analysed to determine environmental and genetic factors affecting semen production traits (ejaculate volume, semen concentration, number of spermatozoa and motility) in young (≤1 year) and adult (≥2 years) rams. Fixed effects and variance components were estimated using multiple trait animal models within each breed. For all traits, the main environmental effects identified were year, season, number of ejaculations, daily variation, interval from previous to current collection and age. Heritability estimates were moderate for volume, concentration and number of spermatozoa (0.12 to 0.33) and lower for motility (0.02 to 0.14). Genetic correlations between ages differed from 1 for all traits (0.14 to 0.90), indicating that semen characteristics corresponded to different traits in young and adult rams. Genetic and phenotypic correlations among traits within age category were globally similar for the different breeds and categories of animals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Station d'amélioration génétique des animaux, INRA, UR631, BP 52627, 31320, Castanet-Tolosan Cedex, France

    Ingrid David, Eduardo Manfredi, Christèle Robert-Granié & Loys Bodin

  2. Physiologie de la reproduction et des comportements, INRA – CNRS UMR1291, 37380, Nouzilly, France

    Xavier Druart

  3. Institut de l'Éevage, ANIO, BP 42118, 31320, Castanet-Tolosan Cedex, France

    Gilles Lagriffoul

Authors
  1. Ingrid David
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  2. Xavier Druart
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  3. Gilles Lagriffoul
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  4. Eduardo Manfredi
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  5. Christèle Robert-Granié
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  6. Loys Bodin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ingrid David.

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Open Access This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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David, I., Druart, X., Lagriffoul, G. et al. Genetic and environmental effects on semen traits in Lacaune and Manech tête rousse AI rams (Open Access publication). Genet Sel Evol 39, 405 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1186/1297-9686-39-4-405

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1297-9686-39-4-405

Keywords

Genetics Selection Evolution

ISSN: 1297-9686