caa a22 4500 388060999 CHVBK 20180307125120.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e199810 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S1357729800010080 doi S1357729800010080 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S1357729800010080 Identification of early predictors of carriers of the Booroola gene in sheep using a mixed inheritance model [Elektronische Daten] A study was conducted to find early predictors of the Booroola gene in several generations of a crossbred sheep population. Merino carriers of the Booroola gene were mated with Texel sheep to improve prolificacy of the latter. Ovulation rate at 8 months of age, litter size at 1 and 2 years of age and FSH and inhibin levels at 3, 4, 5 and 6 weeks of age were determined in about 700 females. Gibbs sampling was applied for inference in a mixed inheritance model. Estimates for the gene effect in heterozygous females were +1·5 corpora lutea and +1·3 lambs at 2 years of age. The gene effect on litter size at 1 year was small. The only significant major gene effect for hormone levels found was for lnINH4 (-0·66). A number of hormone levels and combinations of hormone levels appeared to be useful predictors of carrier status of individual animals. In comparison with a situation where only parents' genotype is known, posterior probabilities for non-carriers were on average increased from 50 to over 95% when FSH levels were used. However, the combined posterior probabilities of carriers and non-carriers increased only up to 67%. So in general, classification with Gibbs sampling resulted in too few animals being identified as carrier. The sum of FSH levels at 3, 4, 5 and 6 weeks of age is proposed as a predictor of presence of the Booroola gene in an animal. Multivariate analysis of mixed inheritance models could help to find more effective combinations. Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1998 Booroola gene nationallicence FSH nationallicence inheritance nationallicence inhibin nationallicence sheep nationallicence Nieuwhof G. J. ID-DLO, Institute for Animal Science and Health, PO Box 65, 8200 AB Lelystad, The Netherlands Visscher A. H. ID-DLO, Institute for Animal Science and Health, PO Box 65, 8200 AB Lelystad, The Netherlands Engel B. ID-DLO, Institute for Animal Science and Health, PO Box 65, 8200 AB Lelystad, The Netherlands Werf J. H. J. van der ID-DLO, Institute for Animal Science and Health, PO Box 65, 8200 AB Lelystad, The Netherlands Jong F. H. de Department of Endocrinology and Reproduction, Erasmus University, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands Dijkstra M. ID-DLO, Institute for Animal Science and Health, PO Box 65, 8200 AB Lelystad, The Netherlands Animal Science Cambridge University Press 67/2(1998-10), 317-325 1357-7298 67:2<317 1998 67 ASC https://doi.org/10.1017/S1357729800010080 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1357729800010080 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Nieuwhof G. J. ID-DLO, Institute for Animal Science and Health, PO Box 65, 8200 AB Lelystad, The Netherlands NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Visscher A. H. ID-DLO, Institute for Animal Science and Health, PO Box 65, 8200 AB Lelystad, The Netherlands NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Engel B. ID-DLO, Institute for Animal Science and Health, PO Box 65, 8200 AB Lelystad, The Netherlands NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Werf J. H. J. van der ID-DLO, Institute for Animal Science and Health, PO Box 65, 8200 AB Lelystad, The Netherlands NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Jong F. H. de Department of Endocrinology and Reproduction, Erasmus University, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Dijkstra M. ID-DLO, Institute for Animal Science and Health, PO Box 65, 8200 AB Lelystad, The Netherlands NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Animal Science Cambridge University Press 67/2(1998-10), 317-325 1357-7298 67:2<317 1998 67 ASC CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge