Uncertainty in the mating strategy causes bias and inaccuracy in estimates of genetic parameters in honeybees
Abstract
With the increased number of honeybee breeding plans worldwide, records from queens with diversified mating strategies need to be considered. Breeding queens might be inseminated with drones produced by a single drone-producing queen (DPQ), or by a group of sister-DPQs. Often, only the dam of DPQ(s) isreported in the pedigree. Furthermore, datasets might include colony phenotypes from DPQs that were open mated in different locations. Using simulation, we investigated the impact of the mating strategy on estimates of genetic parameters and breeding values, when the DPQs were
treated in different ways in the statistical evaluation model. We quantify the bias and standard error of estimates when breeding queens are mated to a single or a group of DPQs, assuming that this
information is either known or not. We also investigated two alternative strategies to accommodate phenotypes of open-mated DPQs in the genetic evaluation, adding either a dummy pseudo sire in the
pedigree, or a non-genetic effect to the statistical evaluation model to account for the origin of the DPQs’ mates.
Domains
Life Sciences [q-bio]Origin | Files produced by the author(s) |
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