Estimation of Genetic Parameters for Growth Traits in Nigerian N'dama and Muturu Cattle Crosses

T HE rural communities in Nigeria and other developing countries, hitherto suffer protein malnutrition, early child mortality and poverty. Animal breeders have addressed similar challenges with the aid of genetic parameters, efficient breeding decisions, genetic improve - ments in milk, beef and cheese production of the exotic cattle, which ranks first in the gross domestic product of the agricultural sector of most civilized countries. These breeding tools were employed to develop the world breeds of cattle, which is estimated to be about 100 breeds. Nevertheless, estimates of genetic parameters of traits of the Nigerian N’dama and Muturu crosses is porous. A total of 300 records of the closed population of the Nigerian cattle herd, comprising of crosses of Muturu and N’dama cattle, were used for this research. This study was conducted from December 2018 to June 2019 to estimate the variance components and heritability for birth weight (BW) and weaning weight (WW), and the genetic and phenotypic correlations between these traits in N’dama and Muturu crosses at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) cattle herd. The study lasted for six months, and the heritability and genetic correlation of the traits were estimated using the Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) method of the SAS mixed model. The result revealed high estimates of direct heritability (0.39 and 0.62) for birth weight and weaning weight, respectively. High and positive (0.84) direct genetic correlation existed among both traits.