Graña-Baumgartner Andrea, Dukkipati Venkata S R, Biggs Patrick J, Kenyon Paul R, Blair Hugh T, Pickering Natalie K, Van der Linden Danitsja S, López-Villalobos Nicolás
School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
School of Veterinary Science, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
J Anim Sci. 2025 Jan 4;103. doi: 10.1093/jas/skae358.
Skin thickness was found to be moderately heritable and genetically associated with lamb survival in a previous study on Romney sheep. The aims of this study were to estimate the heritabilities of skin thickness and skin temperature at around 5 and 11 mo of age and determine genetic and phenotypic correlations between them and with production traits such as fat depth, loin-eye muscle depth and width, live weights at weaning, scanning, and 12 mo, and 12-mo fleece weight, in FocusPrime (n = 2,088), Texel (n = 732), Romney (n = 825) and Highlander (n = 1,801) sheep breeds. Heritability estimates of skin thickness at 5-mo old were moderate in FocusPrime (0.39 ± 0.12) and low in Texel and Highlander (0.11 ± 0.15 and 0.13 ± 0.09, respectively). Heritability estimates of skin thickness at 11-mo old were moderate in all breeds (ranging from 0.19 ± 0.07 to 0.29 ± 0.15). Heritability estimates of skin temperature were high in FocusPrime (0.39 ± 0.11), low in Texel (0.17 ± 0.11) and Highlander (0.12 ± 0.06) and almost zero in Romney (0.04 ± 0.03). A tendency in all breeds for negative and favorable correlations was found between skin thickness and skin temperature at 11-mo old sheep. Skin thickness at 11-mo tended to have a positive genetic correlation with fat depth in all breeds except in Texel where the correlation tended to be negative (-0.10 ± 0.34). Genetic correlations of skin thickness at 11-mo old with the weight traits were variate. There tended to be a positive correlation with weaning weight in Texel (0.14 ± 0.34) and Highlander (0.29 ± 0.22). However, there tended to be negative correlations with live weight at scanning and at 12-mo of age in FocusPrime (-0.03 ± 0.18 and -0.13 ± 0.22, respectively) and tended to be positive in Romney (0.09 ± 0.25 and 0.10 ± 0.24, respectively) and Highlander (0.26 ± 0.22 and 0.39 ± 0.21, respectively). Moreover, genetic correlations of skin thickness at 11-mo of age with FW12 tended to be positive in both Romney (0.20 ± 0.22) and Highlander (0.55 ± 0.19). Further studies on the genetic correlations of skin thickness and skin temperature with lamb survival in these breeds are warranted.
在之前一项针对罗姆尼羊的研究中，发现皮肤厚度具有中度遗传性，且与羔羊存活率存在遗传关联。本研究的目的是估计约5月龄和11月龄时皮肤厚度和皮肤温度的遗传力，并确定它们之间以及与脂肪深度、眼肌深度和宽度、断奶体重、扫描体重、12月龄体重和12月龄羊毛重量等生产性状之间的遗传和表型相关性，研究对象包括焦点优质羊（n = 2088）、特克塞尔羊（n = 732）、罗姆尼羊（n = 825）和高地羊（n = 1801）。5月龄时，焦点优质羊的皮肤厚度遗传力估计值为中度（0.39 ± 0.12），特克塞尔羊和高地羊则较低（分别为0.11 ± 0.15和0.13 ± 0.09）。11月龄时，所有品种的皮肤厚度遗传力估计值均为中度（范围从0.19 ± 0.07至0.29 ± 0.15）。焦点优质羊的皮肤温度遗传力估计值较高（0.39 ± 0.11），特克塞尔羊（0.17 ± 0.11）和高地羊（0.12 ± 0.06）较低，而罗姆尼羊几乎为零（0.04 ± 0.03）。在11月龄的绵羊中，发现所有品种的皮肤厚度和皮肤温度之间都存在负向且有利的相关性趋势。11月龄时，除特克塞尔羊（相关性倾向于为负，-0.10 ± 0.34）外，所有品种的皮肤厚度与脂肪深度均倾向于存在正遗传相关性。11月龄时皮肤厚度与体重性状的遗传相关性各不相同。特克塞尔羊（0.14 ± 0.34）和高地羊（0.29 ± 0.22）中，皮肤厚度与断奶体重倾向于存在正相关性。然而，在焦点优质羊中，皮肤厚度与扫描体重和12月龄体重倾向于存在负相关性（分别为-0.03 ± 0.18和-0.13 ± 0.22），在罗姆尼羊（分别为0.09 ± 0.25和0.10 ± 0.24）和高地羊（分别为0.26 ± 0.22和0.39 ± 0.21）中则倾向于存在正相关性。此外，在罗姆尼羊（0.20 ± 0.22）和高地羊（0.55 ± 0.19）中，11月龄时皮肤厚度与12月龄羊毛重量的遗传相关性均倾向于为正。有必要对这些品种中皮肤厚度和皮肤温度与羔羊存活率的遗传相关性进行进一步研究。
