An experimental population (1216 lambs from 30 sires) of INRA401 sheep was
created to detect QTL controlling salmonellosis resistance, carcass traits
and wool traits. INRA401 is a composite line developed from crosses between
Berrichon du Cher and Romanov breeds. This paper describes a quantitative
analysis of the genetic variability for carcass traits. Controlled traits i
ncluded body and carcass weights, conformation score, carcass dimension, fa
t and skeleton measurements, surface area of longissimus dorsi. Using appro
priate, fixed effect adjustments, genetic correlations and heritabilities w
ere estimated from classical animal models, Heritabilities were found to be
high in comparison to previous studies, indicating both a good standardisa
tion of the environment and a high genetic variability in this newly create
d breed. On the whole the study shows that thr data collected are promising
in terms of QTL detection. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reser
ved.