You are wanting to breed a herd of super-cattle, which will be heavier than other cattle in
Nebraska. You start with a population with a mean weight of 1450 lbs. You select the top 20% of
your cattle for weight, which has a mean of 1550 lbs. You then breed only the selected cattle
together and observe that the mean weight of the offspring is 1475 lbs.
a. What is the narrow-sense heritability for cattle weight for this population of cattle?
b. Your neighbor’s herd has a narrow-sense heritability of 40% (or 0.40) for cattle weight. Which
herd, yours or the neighbor’s, would be best to use to breed the herd of super-cattle?
Solution
Answer a. is h2 = 0.25
Answer b. My neighbour\'s herd would be the best to use because his herd’s narrow sense
heritability is more than of mine
Explanation:
Narrow sense Heritability = h2
h2 = M2 - M / M1 – M
h2 = M2 - M / M1 - M
In the above question rump size of pig population is:
Now if we calculate-
h2 = 1475-1450/1550-1450, h2 = 25/100 = 1/4 or h2 = 0.25
Nebraska. You start with a population with a mean weight of 1450 lbs. You select the top 20% of
your cattle for weight, which has a mean of 1550 lbs. You then breed only the selected cattle
together and observe that the mean weight of the offspring is 1475 lbs.
a. What is the narrow-sense heritability for cattle weight for this population of cattle?
b. Your neighbor’s herd has a narrow-sense heritability of 40% (or 0.40) for cattle weight. Which
herd, yours or the neighbor’s, would be best to use to breed the herd of super-cattle?
Solution
Answer a. is h2 = 0.25
Answer b. My neighbour\'s herd would be the best to use because his herd’s narrow sense
heritability is more than of mine
Explanation:
Narrow sense Heritability = h2
h2 = M2 - M / M1 – M
h2 = M2 - M / M1 - M
In the above question rump size of pig population is:
Now if we calculate-
h2 = 1475-1450/1550-1450, h2 = 25/100 = 1/4 or h2 = 0.25
