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Genetic selection to produce lines of sheep differing in plasma copper concentrations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

G. Wiener ,
J. A. Woolliams ,
Carol Woolliams  and
A. C. Field
G. Wiener
Affiliation:
AFRC Animal Breeding Research Organisation, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JQ
J. A. Woolliams
Affiliation:
AFRC Animal Breeding Research Organisation, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JQ
Carol Woolliams
Affiliation:
AFRC Animal Breeding Research Organisation, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JQ
A. C. Field
Affiliation:
ADRA Moredun Research Institute, 408 Gilmerton Road, Edinburgh EH17 7JH
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Abstract

Male lambs were selected annually at 18 and 24 weeks of age for high or low concentrations of copper in plasma to produce two closed lines. The difference between the high and low lines increased to approx. 0·5 mg/1 after 5 years when the experiment ended, indicating appreciable additive genetic variation for the concentration of Cu in plasma. The selection lines were derived from a population of Scottish Blackface × Welsh Mountain crosses which had been interbred for many generations. The two parental breeds contributing to the cross normally differ in a number of aspects of Cu status with that of the Welsh higher than that of the Blackface. Both pure breeds were kept as controls. In the final year, Cu concentrations of the high selection line exceeded the values of the Welsh and the low selection line had values below those of the Blackface. Differences between the selection lines persisted at all ages.

There were indications of changes in the frequency of the Hb alleles, associated with the selection for Cu concentrations, but there were no correlated changes in body weight, reproductive performance or lamb mortality during the 5-year selection period when dietary supplies of Cu were not particularly restrictive.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , June 1985 , pp. 465 - 473
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1985

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