Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T16:56:32.248Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The accuracy of progeny testing with binomial auxiliary traits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2016

P. Narain  and
A. P. Kaur
P. Narain
Affiliation:
Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi 110012, India
A. P. Kaur
Affiliation:
Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi 110012, India
Get access

Abstract

The accuracy of progeny testing for a continuous trait when the auxiliary information was based on ‘all-or-none’ type of traits with a multi-factorial threshold model was examined. The accuracy of the progeny test was found always to increase with the inclusion of the auxiliary trait. It followed the same pattern as in the case of continuous auxiliary trait. However, there was an additional feature in that the accuracy was also dependent on the probability of incidence of the discrete trait unless either the progeny group size was very large, and/or there was no genetic correlation or else the probability of incidence was itself extremely low. Compared with the case when the auxiliary trait was continuous, there was a loss in accuracy which can be looked upon in two ways. First, the continuous auxiliary trait is itself made ‘all-or-none’ type by a threshold and the accuracies compared in the two cases. The loss increases symmetrically in either direction with increase in positive or negative directions of the difference in genotypic and phenotypic correlations. Secondly, a comparison can be made of the accuracy when the auxiliary trait is normally distributed with that when it is binomially distributed but with the same amount of genetic information on the observed scale as given by the heritabilities and genetic correlations. No loss now occurs if the two classes of the binomial trait are equally likely and the loss in accuracy increases with the decrease in the standard deviation of the binomial distribution for given values of other parameters. It was found also that the use of binomial auxiliary trait reduced the number of progeny required to attain a pre-assigned level of accuracy, resulting in a decreased cost of the programme compared with that when no binomial auxiliary trait was used.

Keywords

binomial auxiliary traitsprogeny testing.
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , April 1994 , pp. 189 - 196
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Curnow, R. N. 1984. Progeny testing for all-or-none traits when a multi-factorial model applies. Biometrics 40: 375–382.Google Scholar
Curnow, R. N. and Smith, C. 1975. Multifactorial models for familial diseases in man. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A 138: 131–169.Google Scholar
Dempster, E. R. and Lerner, I. M. 1950. Heritability of threshold characters. Genetics 35: 212–235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Falconer, D. S. 1960. Introduction to quantitative genetics‥ Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Foulley, J. L., Gianola, D. and Thompson, R. 1983. Prediction of genetic merit from data on binary and quantitative variates with an application to calving difficulty, birth weight, and pelvic opening. Genetique, Selection, Evolution 15: 401–424.Google Scholar
Gianola, D. 1980. Genetic evaluation of animals for traits with categorical responses. Journal of Animal Science 41: 1272–1276.Google Scholar
Gianola, D. 1982. Theory and analysis of threshold characters. Journal of Animal Science 54: 1079–1096.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gianola, D. and Norton, H. W. 1981. Scaling threshold characters. Genetics 99: 357–364.Google Scholar
Johnson, N. L. and Kotz, S. 1972. Distributions in statistics: continuous tnultivariate distributions. John Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Narain, P. 1985. Progeny testing with auxiliary traits. Biometrics 41: 895–907.Google Scholar
Olausson, A. and Ronningen, K. 1975. Estimation of genetic parameters for threshold characters. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica 25: 201–208.Google Scholar
Robertson, A. and Lerner, I. M. 1949. Heritability of all-or-none traits: viability or poultry. Genetics 34: 345–411.Google Scholar
Vinson, W. E., White, J. M. and Kliewer, R. H. 1976. Overall classification as a selection criterion for improving categorically scored components of type in Holsteins. Journal of Dairy Science 59: 2104–2114.Google Scholar