Plumage condition in laying hens: genetic parameters for direct and indirect effects in two purebred layer lines

Table 3 Estimates of heritability from classical animal model ( h ² ± SE) and direct–indirect effects model ( T ² ± SE) for FCS

Line	Region	$h_{univariate}^{2}$	$h_{bivariate}^{2}$	$T_{univariate}^{2}$	$T_{bivariate}^{2}$
W1	Neck	0.059 ± 0.015	0.056 ± 0.014	0.195 ± 0.077	0.187 ± 0.074
	Back	0.074 ± 0.018	0.077 ± 0.019	0.257 ± 0.083	0.237 ± 0.077
	Rump	0.015 ± 0.007	0.015 ± 0.007	0.098 ± 0.066	0.094 ± 0.063
	Belly	0.079 ± 0.018	0.077 ± 0.017	0.143 ± 0.061	0.134 ± 0.058
	Total	0.060 ± 0.014	0.060 ± 0.014	0.251 ± 0.089	0.249 ± 0.089
WB	Neck	0.098 ± 0.018	0.102 ± 0.020	0.371 ± 0.117	0.406 ± 0.121
	Back	0.052 ± 0.014	0.048 ± 0.013	0.349 ± 0.110	0.397 ± 0.114
	Rump	0.048 ± 0.012	0.046 ± 0.012	0.456 ± 0.131	0.482 ± 0.133
	Belly	0.063 ± 0.017	0.068 ± 0.017	0.253 ± 0.091	0.255 ± 0.090
	Total	0.095 ± 0.018	0.093 ± 0.017	0.536 ± 0.140	0.588 ± 0.145

Estimates are shown for FCS in each body region and for total FCS in two lines (W1, WB); h² is the heritability obtained with the classical animal model using an univariate model ( $h_{univariate}^{2}$ ) or a bivariate model with mortality ( $h_{bivariate}^{2}$ ); T² is the total heritable variance expressed as a proportion of the phenotypic variance obtained with the direct–indirect effects model using an univariate model ( $T_{univariate}^{2}$ ) or a bivariate model with mortality ( $T_{bivariate}^{2}$ ); FCS is feather condition score, for each body region FCS ranges from 1 through 5, and total FCS ranges from 4 through 20.

ISSN: 1297-9686