HERITABILITY ESTIMATE OF BIRTH WEIGHT IN GUINEA PIG (Cavia porcellus)

Abstract

The study was conducted to estimate the heritability of birth weight in guinea pigs using using half-sibs and fullsibs methods. A total of 40 piglets generated from 24 matured guinea pigs (4 males and 20 females) nested in the ratio of 1male to 5males were used for the study. After farrowing, birth weight of individual piglet was recorded using a digital weighing scale. Data generated were analyzed using analysis of variance and restricted maximum likelihood, correlation coefficients among parent and offspring birth weights were estimated. Sire had no effect on birth weight and heritability estimates of this trait using different components of variance (sire, dam and sire/dam) were low. Correlation coefficients between the parent weight and birth weight were low, negative and non-significant. This study indicated that birth weight has low transmissibility. Further research involving larger data sets should be conducted to ascertain these findings