The current study evaluated the influence of selection for litter size at birth on litter traits and milk yield of New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits. A total of 2231 litters produced from 063 does and 72 bucks were used to assess litter size at birth (LSB) and weaning (LSW), litter weight at birth (LWB), litter weight at 21 d (LW21) and litter weight at weaning (LWW), as well as mortality percentage (MOR%) from birth (total alive) till weaning age, milk yield at lactation intervals of 0–7 d (MY07), 7-14 d (MY14), 14-21 d (MY21), 21-28 d (MY28) and 0-28 d (TMY) and milk conversion ratio during 21 d of lactation (MCR021). Multi-trait animal model was used to data analysis using VCE6 programe. Estimates of heritability for litter traits were low and ranging from 0.05 for LSB to 0.14 for LWB. Also, estimates for milk yield traits were low and ranged from 0.08 for MY7 to 0.22 for MY21. The contrast among these generations were significant (P |
