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Last update: August 18, 2011 10:50:58 AM

SIMULATIING A SMALL POPULATION FOR SELECTION

GJ Delport & JJ Olivier¹

ADSRI, Middelburg CP.

Summary

A technique to simulate breeding values and environmental variation in a small population by applying BLUP-technology is described.

Breeding values for the base population were obtained by simulating the effect of 11 gene pairs. This approach was followed since computer space (IBM-PC) limited animal model analysis to 70 animals.

Environmental variation is randomly generated within experimentally determined limits. Apart from fixed environmental effects a random normal deviate (V6e) where 6² e = 1-h² was included to facilitate simulation of environmental and genetic trends.

Preliminary results for the simulation of clean fleece mass produced breeding values between -0.9 and +0.7 kg with a genetic standard deviation of 0.94 kg.

The model will be used to analyze the effects of applying different selection intensities, selection methods, generation interval and heritabilities in a small population.

¹Grootfontein College of Agriculture, Middelburg , CP