GENETIC EVALUATION OF GROWTH TRAITS IN V-LINE MATERNAL RABBITS UNDER EGYPTIAN CONDITIONS

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the productivity of a rabbit maternal line that has been created synthetically (V line). Many random and non-random

factors influenced body weight at weaning (WW), Slaughter weight (SW) and Daily. weight gain at 4-9 weeks (DWG), including year of birth, month of birth, sex,

parity, gestation length, litter size born alive, and lactation length of V Line rabbits. This study was spreading over five season's production of production at

the Poultry Research Center, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Alexandria's nucleus breeding rabbit farm Population. Least-squares means estimates WW

varied significantly (P≤ 0.001) from one year of birth to another. SW declined by 250.6 g from the 1st to the 6th year of kindling. DWG was in the 1st year at 2013

increased by 5.87 g over the 2nd one and by 7.1 g over the 6th year of birth at 2020.

The lowest averages were recorded for rabbits born in July and August while the highest averages of rabbits born during November, and March for WW. Significant

(P≤ 0.001) differences due to month of birth on WW, SW and DWG. No significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) exist between sexes for WW, Significant differences due to

the two sexes for SW and DWG. In generally was significant effect of parity (P ≤ 0.001) on growth performance traits, the gestation length was non-significant on

WW, however it had a significant effect on SW and DWG. Litter size born alive were highly significant differences (P ≤ 0.001) in WW and SW. The effect of lactation length was significant on SW and DWG. For all growth traits studied the sire component of variance was lower than the dam component of variance.

Heritability values were 0.46, 0.32 and 0.43 for WW, SW & DWG, respectively.