Lauper M, Gerber V, Ramseyer A, Burger D, Lüth A, Koch C, Dolf G. Heritabilities of health traits in Swiss Warmblood horses.
Equine Vet J 2015;
49:15-18. [PMID:
26538098 DOI:
10.1111/evj.12537]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2015] [Accepted: 10/22/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY
There is a lack of evidence regarding genetic parameters of health traits in Swiss Warmblood horses.
OBJECTIVES
To estimate heritabilities of equine sarcoid disease, horn quality of hooves, prognathism and increased filling of talocrural joints as a possible indicator for osteochondrosis in Swiss Warmblood horses examined at the field tests for 3-year-olds between 2005 and 2013.
STUDY DESIGN
Retrospective analysis of breed society database.
METHODS
Swiss Warmblood horses were examined clinically by 13 veterinarians at field tests in Switzerland between 2005 and 2013. The presence of sarcoids, horn quality of the hooves, incisor occlusion and increased joint filling were assessed and recorded. Records of 3715 horses were integrated in a pedigree comprising 217,282 horses. Variance components and heritabilities were estimated on the liability scale using multiple-trait Gibbs sampler for animal models (MTGSAM).
RESULTS
The prevalences of the examined traits were rather low ranging from 2.4 to 13.0%. Heritabilities estimated were 0.21 ± 0.07 for the occurrence of sarcoids, 0.04 ± 0.02 for hooves with markedly brittle and friable horn quality, 0.03 ± 0.01 for hooves with marked growth ring formation, 0.06 ± 0.03 for prognathism and 0.08 ± 0.04 for increased filling of the talocrural joint (an indicator of possible osteochondrosis). The influence of the examiner on the variance of these observations was considerable.
CONCLUSIONS
With the exception of equine sarcoid disease, estimates for the heritabilities for the traits examined here were low. A standardised examination protocol may reduce the variance due to the examiner.
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