Genetic parameter estimates for carcass traits in the inra401 composite sheep strain

An experimental population (1216 lambs from 30 sires) of INRA401 sheep was created to detect QTL controlling salmonellosis resistance, carcass traits and wool traits. INRA401 is a composite line developed from crosses between Berrichon du Cher and Romanov breeds. This paper describes a quantitative analysis of the genetic variability for carcass traits. Controlled traits included body and carcass weights, conformation score, carcass dimension, fat and skeleton measurements, surface area of longissimus dorsi. Using appropriate, fixed effect adjustments, genetic correlations and heritabilities were estimated from classical animal models, Heritabilities were found to be high in comparison to previous studies, indicating both a good standardisation of the environment and a high genetic variability in this newly created breed. On the whole the study shows that thr data collected are promising in terms of QTL detection. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.