ESTIMATION OF HETEROSIS AND HERITABILITY OF BODY WEIGHT IN PROGENIES OF CROSSES BETWEEN TWO BREEDS OF RABBITS

Abstract

This study was conducted with New Zealand White (NZW) and Dutch Black (DTB) breeds of rabbits‘ crosses to estimate heterosis and heritability. Forty-eight (48) rabbits, comprising twelve (12) bucks (6 per breed) and thirty-six (36) does (18 per breed) were used in the mating ratio of 1:3. Parameters taken on both the parents and their progenies according to the different breeding groups include Body Weight (BW) and Body Length (BL). The measurements were taken at 4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks of age. The results revealed negative heterosis of - 1.90% and -4.34% at 4th and 12th week for NZW x NZW, -2.58% at 8 weeks for DTB x DTB, while NZW x DTB and DTB x NZW yielded positive heterosis of 2.22%, 20.96%, 15.96% and 5.30% at week 4, 8, 12 and 16 respectively. Heritability estimates from the body weight were generally low to moderate at 4th to 8th weeks for all the crosses. Conversely, at 12th week heritability estimates were high, 0.68±0.15, 0.44±0.15, 0.50±0.39 and 0.56±0.53 for NZW x NZW, DTB x DTB, NZW x DTB and DTB x NZW respectively. It could be concluded from this study that using the DTB to sire DTB x NZW crossbred progeny in rabbit breeding programme can yield considerable hybrid vigour