caa a22 4500 388060506 CHVBK 20180307125119.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e199808 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S1357729800009917 doi S1357729800009917 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S1357729800009917 Genetic and phenotypic relationships between food intake, growth, efficiency and body composition of mice post weaning and at maturity [Elektronische Daten] Genetic and phenotypic variation in post-weaning growth, food intake, efficiency and body composition of mice post weaning and at maturity, were examined to determine whether genetic variation in efficiency exists and to predict likely responses to selection for increased food efficiency in post-weaning animals. Genetic variation was found for average daily gain, mid-weight, daily food intake and proportion of body fat both post weaning and at maturity. Residual food intake calculated from phenotypic regression had a heritability of 0·27 (s.e. 0·06) post weaning and 0·24 (s.e. 0·08) at maturity, and was very similar to residual food intake calculated using genetic (co)variances, indicating genetic variation in efficiency exists in post-weaning and mature mice. Although the phenotypic correlation between residual food intake post weaning and at maturity was low (0·29), the genetic correlation was moderate (0·60). This suggests that selection for efficiency in young animals will lead to a correlated improvement in maintenance efficiency of mature animals. Genetic correlation estimates suggest that correlated responses in other traits would include a concomitant decrease in post-weaning food intake, a slight increase in weight at weaning, a slight increase in post-weaning fat proportion and little or no change in post-weaning growth. In mature animals there will be an associated decrease in daily food intake and a slight decrease in mature size and body fat proportion. The results suggest that residual food intake of young animals might be a suitable selection criteria for use in livestock species to improve efficiency in young animals and also in the breeding herd. Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1998 body composition nationallicence food conversion nationallicence growth nationallicence mice nationallicence residual effects nationallicence Archer J. A. Department of Animal Science, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia Pitchford W. S. Department of Animal Science, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia Hughes T. E. Department of Animal Science, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia Parnell P. F. The Angus Society of Australia, Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia Animal Science Cambridge University Press 67/1(1998-08), 171-182 1357-7298 67:1<171 1998 67 ASC https://doi.org/10.1017/S1357729800009917 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1357729800009917 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Archer J. A. Department of Animal Science, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Pitchford W. S. Department of Animal Science, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Hughes T. E. Department of Animal Science, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Parnell P. F. The Angus Society of Australia, Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Animal Science Cambridge University Press 67/1(1998-08), 171-182 1357-7298 67:1<171 1998 67 ASC CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge