[Study on BLUP with reduced animal model in evaluation of performance tested males]

Abstract

This study is computed in best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) with the reduced animal model. BLUP is a powerful method to evaluate genetic value of animals, but the computation is sometimes costly because of the large set of equations to be solved. Equivalent linear models with a reduced number of elements of breeding values can reduce computations substantially. Using a general animal model and a reduced animal model predictions of additive genetic merit are described for the case of sire and maternal grandsire. A simple numerical example is used to illustrate the identity of the two solutions. The reduced animal model can be useful for evaluation of males that have been performance-tested and have, in some case, progeny that have been tested as is the case with beef cattle.