Quantitative genetic evaluation of ostriches (Struthio camelus) in the state of São Paulo

• Grant number: 04/02493-5
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: May 01, 2005
• End date: October 31, 2005
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Genetics and Improvement of Domestic Animals
• Principal Investigator: Rodrigo Possa Bertazzo
• Grantee: Rodrigo Possa Bertazzo
• Company: Bianco Avestruz Ltda
• City: São Paulo

Abstract

Market niches based on breeding animals and products derived from the ostrich such as meat, leather, eggs and feathers could be extremely interesting for Brazil. However, for production to be able to cater for the growing demand it is necessary to integrate the efforts of researchers, selectors, commercial breeders, the refrigeration industry and the government. The present project aims to generate research on the genetic quality of ostriches so as, subsequently, to implement in Brazil a program of genetic improvement for these birds and generate the necessary genetic evaluations so that producers, from a digest of ostriches, can correctly choose the animals that will serve as reproducers in the future. The project includes the measurement of weight characteristics linked to the weight of birds at different ages; reproductive characteristics to be studied, such as libido and number of eggs, among others; and pathologies such as navel infection and splayed legs. The necessary genetic parameters for the prediction of heritability and genetic correlation, will be obtained by means of the use of the MTDFREML (Boldman e Van Vleck, 1995) system. For the solution of mixed model equations, the ABTK (Golden et al., 1992) and TKBLUP (Golden et al., 1995) software suite will be used. The Linux operating system should be adopted as well as SAS and FOX software for the manipulation and consistency of the database. (AU)