Principles of Selection

Elfren F. Celestino Jr.

 Basic Concepts in Animal Breeding

Animal Breeding is the art and science of the genetic improvement of farm
animals.

Selection = choosing some animals as parents of the next generation of

animals.

Culling = removal of inferior animals

The basis of animal breeding is the correct selection of breeding animals for
mating
Selection
• Selection for quantitative traits:
• 1) Estimate merit (BV’s)
• 2) Determine accuracy of estimation
• 3) Predict response to selection
Assessment of Genetic Merit
Ancestors

Sire Dam

Sibs Sibs
Individual (i)
Progeny

Future Descendants
Assessment of Genetic Merit
Ancestors

Sire Dam

Sibs Sibs
Individual (i)
Progeny

Future Descendants
 Assessment of Genetic Merit
Every animal shares
Ancestors genes in common with
animal i.
Sire Dam

Sibs Sibs
Individual (i)
Progeny

Future Descendants
Genetic Evaluation Examples

-- combine all
-- degree of
information weighted
relatedness is
appropriately for the
important
source
 1) n records on one animal, i or a
Genetic relative
Evaluation 2) 1 record on each of q equally
related relatives
Examples 3) pedigree index
 Estimation of BV’s

-- obtained as a regression of a
phenotypic deviation
Phenotypic deviation -- records deviated
from a mean
Regression -- BV on the phenotypic
deviations
 Heritability
Heritability in the broad sense (H2): is the proportion of the
phenotypic variance that is due to genetic effects including
additive, dominance and epistasis:

VG VA + VD + VI
H = =
2

VP VP
Heritability in the narrow sense (h2): is the proportion of the
phenotypic variance that is due to additive genetic effects
only.
VA
h 2
=
VP
 • It measures the degree to which the
What does offspring resemble their parents in
performance for a trait.
the
heritability • If a trait has a large heritability, animals
with high performance for the trait will
in the produce offspring with high performance.
narrow
• If a trait has a small heritability,
sense performance records of parents reveal
measure? little information about the performance of
their offspring.
Heritability ranges from 0 to 1.0.

Traits with low heritability (h2 < 0.20):

• reproductive traits like days open calving interval, litter size, and conception rate
• longevity or productive live ( about 0.10)

Moderately heritable traits (h2 of 0.2 to 0.4):

• Milk yield, fat yield and protein yield (0.25-0.35)

• Birth weight
• Weaning weight
• Yearling weight

Highly heritable traits (h2> 0.4):

• Carcass traits and traits related to skeletal dimensions like mature body weight
• Fat and protein% in milk.
Aids to Selection:

a. Pedigree selection
animals are selected based on their ancestors,
where the performance of these ancestors is
known then a useful selection can often be made.

b. Progeny Testing
the breeding value of each individual is assessed
on the average performance of a random sample of
its progeny, and animals are selected or culled
based on this progeny performance
c. Mass or Individual Selection = any animals
unsatisfactorily for the character being selected
can be culled before breeding is commenced.

Disadvantages:
✓Several important traits, including milk
production in dairy cattle, maternal abilities in
brood cows, ewes and sow, and egg production
in poultry are expressed only by females.

✓In case in which heritability is low, individual

merit is a poor indication of breeding value.

d. Family selection = selection based on the

performance of nearby relatives
 Methods of Selection:

. a. Tandem Selection
selection is made for one trait or character at a time
until it is improved, then for a second trait and so on.

b. Independent culling level

a method where minimum standards of performance
are established for each trait in the criteria. Any
animal not satisfying the minimum standard for all
traits is culled.
c. Selection Index = each character is given a
score and scores for all characters being
considered are added together. Those with
the poorest total scores would be culled.
Mating systems:

a. Crossbreeding – breeding of two or more different

breed of animal.

i.e. A X B or A x B x C

b. Purebreeding - means that breeding of animal with the

same breed.

i.e. Brahman X Brahman; Landrace X Landrace

b.1. Inbreeding. Mating between animals, which are more
closely related to each other than the average relationship
between all individuals in the population.

Mating between full sibs or between parents and progeny.

Example: A is ♀; B is ♂
1st mating: A x B
1st generation: ½ A ½ B

2nd mating A x ½ A ½ B
2nd generation ¾ A ¼ B
b.2. Linebreeding.
Mild form of inbreeding. Mating of cousins, grandparent to grand
offspring or half-brother to half sister.

Example: A is ♀; B & C is ♂
1st mating: A x B AxC
1st generation: ½A½B ½A½C
2nd mating ½ A ½ B x ½A½C
2nd generation ½A¼B¼C
b.3. Outcrossing
Mating of animals of different families within the same breed that
are not closely related. (For at least the first four to six generation.
c. Crossbreeding – is the mating of two animals from different
breeds.

➢The increased level of performance of the offspring as to

compare to the average of the parental type is known as
heterosis or hybrid vigor.

➢There is a reciprocal relationship between heterosis and

heritability: the traits that demonstrate the most hybrid vigor
are those that show the lowest
heritability.
➢Crossbreeding can be used to:

oDevelop new breeds from crossings of breeds from

temperate zones with tropical breed

oUpgrade local breeds

▪Mating of purebred sires to native or grade female.
i.e., Anglo Nubian x Native Goat
Murrah Buffalo x Philippine Carabao
Methods of Crossbreeding:
a. Single two-way crosses.
Two different populations can be crossed with each other
to produce an F1 generation which is used only for
production purposes and not for breeding.
Breed A x Breed B
Market Animal
b. Three-way cross. This system relies on the crossing of two
breeds A and B to produce a female excelling in maternal
performance in a particular environment and the use of a
third breed to produced the ideal animal for the market
product.
Breed A x Breed B
Female x Terminal Sire Breed C
Market Animal
c. Four-way cross. Populations A and B are first crossed
with each other, and so are C and D to obtain the F1
generation A x B and C x D. These are then crossed
together to produce the double hybrids AB x CD. It is
necessary to maintain only relatively small number of
animals of the lines A, B, C, and D.

Parents: AxB x CxD

F1 AB x CD

ABCD
d. Back cross. The F1 females are back crossed to one
of the parental populations. For example, A x B
females are mated with A or B to produce an
offspring AB x A or AB x B. This method takes full
advantage of heterosis in the F1 females and half of
the potential heterosis in the offspring.

AXB
AB x A or AB x B
F1 females AB
e. Two-way rotational cross. In which males of each of the
two breeds involved are used alternately; this system has
the advantages over the two-way cross, in that the
crossbreed females can be used for breeding.

A x B AB

First mating : A x AB
Second mating: B x AB
Third mating: A x AB
f. Three-way rotational cross. In which males of each
of the three breeds are used in turn; crossbred
females produced can be used for breeding.

A x B x C ABC

First mating : A x ABC

Second mating: B x ABC
Third mating: C x ABC
Thank you…