Estimation of heritability and repeatability for pre-weaning body weights of domestic rabbits raised in derived savannah zone of Nigeria

Abstract

Heritability and repeatability estimates are needed for genetic evaluation of livestock populations and consequently for the purpose of upgrading or improvement. Pooled data on 302 progeny from three consecutive parities of purebred rabbit breeds (Chinchilla, Dutch and New Zealand white) raised in Derived Savanna Zone of Nigeria were used to estimate heritability and repeatability for pre-weaning body weights between 1st and 8th week of age. Respective heritability estimates from the sire component (h²_s) and repeatability (R) as intra-class correlations of repeated measurements from the three parities for Individual kit weight at birth (IKWB), 2^nd week (IK2W), 4^th week (IK4W), 6th week (IK6W) and 8^th week (IK8W) are 0.59 ± 0.24, 0.55 ± 0.24, 0.93 ± 0.31, 0.28 ± 0.17, 0.64 ± 0.26 and 0.12 ± 0.14, 0.05 ± 0.14, 0.58 ± 0.02, 0.60 ± 0.11, 0.20 ± 0.14. Heritability and repeatability (except R for IKWB and IK2W) estimates are moderate to high. In conclusion, since pre-weaning body weights in the present study tended to be moderately to highly heritable and repeatable, improvement of rabbits raised in derived savanna zone can be realized through genetic selection criterions.