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Abstract
1. objective of the present study was to estimate heritability for hatch weight (HW), body weight at 90 (W90) and 180 (W180) d of age in Brazilian ostriches.
2. The heritability estimates were obtained through the restricted maximum likelihood method for an animal model. Least squares method was used to define possible fixed effects for consideration in the analysis model.
3. The estimates of heritability were 0.42 ± 0.05, 0.16 ± 0.04 and 0.24 ± 0.08 for HW, W90 and W180, respectively.
4. Heritability estimates showed that there are sufficient levels of additive genetic variation present in the traits studied, and these traits may respond to selection.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank ACAB (Associação dos Criadores de Avestruzes do Brasil, São Paulo, SP, Brazil) for the data set. Financial support was provided by FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil), CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brasília, DF, Brazil) and CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Brasília, DF, Brazil). S.B. Ramos, R.P. Savegnago and S.L. Caetano received scholarships from FAPESP (08/52414-5, 10/05148-8, 10/05903-0). S.B. Ramos is a postdoctoral fellow at FCAV/UNESP (CNPq process number 150456/2014-0). D.P. Munari was the recipient of a fellowship from CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico).