Breeding value evaluation in Polish fur animals: Statistical description of fur coat and reproduction traits – relationship and inbreeding

Abstract

Three data sets were available: records on conformation and coat traits for the arctic fox from one farm (5 540 observations, collected between 1983 and 1997), and the same traits for the silver fox from three farms (8 199 observations, collected between 1984 and 1999). The third set comprised 5 829 observations on reproductive performance of the arctic fox from one farm, collected between 1984 and 1999. The GLM procedure was used to test the significance of fixed effects on the analysed reproduction traits as well as differences between groups. Phenotypic trends as well as relationship and inbreeding across the studied years were computed. Most of the phenotypic trends were positive. Low relationship and inbreeding coefficients in the arctic and silver fox populations under study were estimated. The average relationship coefficients for the silver and arctic fox populations were 0.015 and 0.010, respectively, whereas the average inbreeding coefficients for the same species were 0.0039 and 0.0016, respectively. No inbreeding was found in the arctic fox breeding females.