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Research-Article| Volume 72, ISSUE 10, P2606-2614, October 1989

Influence of Nonadditive Effects on Estimation of Genetic Parameters in Dairy Cattle

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      Abstract

      A population was simulated having progeny that descended from sires and dams with various fractions of genes from two breeds. Additive breed effects and nonadditive effects from breed crosses were simulated.
      Data on performance were analyzed using mixed models that accounted for fixed additive genetic group effects and random sire effects. Three additive models, with genetic groups defined according to 1) breed composition of the progeny, 2) breed composition of the sire and the dam, or 3) linear regression on breed fraction of the progeny, were compared with a nonadditive model with a linear regression on breed fraction, heterozygosity and recombination in the genome of the progeny. Variance components were estimated using restricted maximum likelihood.
      Additive genetic variance and heritability were overestimated for an additive model with progeny groups. Additive models gave estimates for breed difference, group effects, and breeding values that were not equal to true additive genetic values. Breed differences were overestimated when sire groups were used. Estimators for each parameter were unbiased with the nonadditive model.

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