Application Possibilities of Selection Indices in the Pannon Ka Rabbit Breed

The Pannon Ka is a synthetic breed which can be used as a maternal crossing partner in the Pannon breeding program of the University of Kaposvár, Hungary. In the present study genetic parameters of the number of kits born alive (NBA) and the litter weight at 21 days of age (LW21) were estimated, and a two trait selection index was created in order to test the possible modification of the selection process of this breed. 14465 NBA and LW21 records were collected from 3509 Pannon Ka does between 1999 and 2016 and the total number of animals in the pedigree was 5627. NBA and LW21 were analyzed jointly in a two-trait animal model which was used to estimate the variance components and to predict the breeding values. The considered fixed effects in the model were parity and year and month of kindling. The covariate factors were the number of kits after equalization and age of the kits at measurement for LW21. The random effects were permanent environmental effect and the additive genetic effect for both traits. The estimated heritability of LW21 and NBA were 0.1±0.01 and 0.06±0.01, respectively. Genetic correlation between the traits was 0.16±0.06. The created selection index had a 50-50% contribution of the measured traits. Nevertheless, the selection index scores showed stronger correlation (0.98) with NBA, than with LW21 (0.36) due to its economic importance