Smith Erin G, Walkom Samuel F, Waters Dominic L, Clark Sam A
School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia.
Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia.
Genet Sel Evol. 2025 Jul 14;57(1):38. doi: 10.1186/s12711-025-00983-1.
General resilience in animals can be quantified by analysing the variability in longitudinal data. However, it is unclear whether resilience indicators derived from different longitudinal data series can predict resilience to known or unknown disturbances in sheep. This study aimed to use two sources of longitudinal data, wool fibre diameter and body weight, to develop potential indicators for resilience to the known stress of weaning and overall resilience to unknown disturbances. The genetic parameters of these traits were assessed, along with the genetic correlations between traits from different data series and different definitions of resilience. Additionally, correlations between resilience indicators, health and production traits were estimated to evaluate the suitability of including resilience indicators in breeding programs.
Fibre diameter and body weight records from approximately 6500 yearling Merino sheep were used to estimate four resilience indicators of resilience towards unknown disturbances: log-transformed variance (Lnvar), lag-1 Auto (Auto), skewness (Skewness) and absolute difference in the deviations (ABS) from these curves. Three other traits, rate of change in the response and recovery (ROC_response and ROC_recovery) and area between curves (ABC) during a known disturbance of weaning, were also estimated. Resilience indicators were found to be lowly heritable (0.03 ± 0.01 to 0.18 ± 0.04). Genetic correlations between the general resilience indicator and the indicator of resilience to weaning stress were generally moderate, particularly in the wool fibre diameter data, suggesting these may represent similar traits. Genetic correlations between resilience indicators derived from wool fibre diameter and body weight data were typically weak to moderate, which indicates that they possibly capture different aspects of resilience. The genetic correlations between resilience indicators and health traits were mostly low, except for body condition score. Correlations between resilience and production traits were low to moderate and favourable.
Resilience indicators based on deviations in wool fibre diameter and body weight can be used to potentially select animals that are less affected by environmental disturbances. The genetic correlations between resilience indicators and health and production traits suggest that these traits could be included in breeding programs to improve resilience without adversely affecting production traits.
动物的一般恢复力可通过分析纵向数据的变异性来量化。然而，尚不清楚从不同纵向数据系列得出的恢复力指标能否预测绵羊对已知或未知干扰的恢复力。本研究旨在利用两个纵向数据源，即羊毛纤维直径和体重，来开发针对断奶已知应激的恢复力潜在指标以及对未知干扰的总体恢复力指标。评估了这些性状的遗传参数，以及来自不同数据系列的性状与不同恢复力定义之间的遗传相关性。此外，估计了恢复力指标、健康和生产性状之间的相关性，以评估在育种计划中纳入恢复力指标的适用性。
利用约6500只一岁美利奴绵羊的纤维直径和体重记录，估计了四个针对未知干扰的恢复力指标：对数变换方差（Lnvar）、滞后1自相关（Auto）、偏度（Skewness）以及这些曲线偏差的绝对差值（ABS）。还估计了另外三个性状，即在断奶已知干扰期间的反应和恢复变化率（ROC_response和ROC_recovery）以及曲线间面积（ABC）。发现恢复力指标的遗传力较低（0.03±0.01至0.18±0.04）。一般恢复力指标与断奶应激恢复力指标之间的遗传相关性通常为中等程度，特别是在羊毛纤维直径数据中，这表明它们可能代表相似的性状。从羊毛纤维直径和体重数据得出的恢复力指标之间的遗传相关性通常较弱至中等，这表明它们可能捕捉到了恢复力的不同方面。恢复力指标与健康性状之间的遗传相关性大多较低，但体况评分除外。恢复力与生产性状之间的相关性为低至中等且呈正向。
基于羊毛纤维直径和体重偏差的恢复力指标可用于潜在地选择受环境干扰影响较小的动物。恢复力指标与健康和生产性状之间的遗传相关性表明，这些性状可纳入育种计划以提高恢复力，而不会对生产性状产生不利影响。
