Estimation of heritability by both regression of offspring on parent and intra-class correlation of sibs in one experiment

Estimation of heritability by both regression of offspring on parent and intra-class correlation of sibs in one experiment

1974

REP.G1214

The analysis and design of experiments to estimate heritability when data are available on both parents and offspring are discussed. It is shown that there is a substantial positive sampling correlation between the regression of offspring on mid-parent and the covariance of full sibs estimated from the same data, and that in a hierarchical structure the covariance of half sibs has a negative correlation with the regression of offspring on dam and a positive correlation with the regression of offspring on sire. The efficiency of alternative estimators of heritability by regression and sib covariance, pooled estimators based on these and maximum likelihood (ML) are compared. The ML estimator does not reduce the variance substantially below that from the pooled estimators, but both are often much better than either regression or sib covariance estimators alone. The optimum designs of experiments for ML estimation are obtained. It is found that these do not differ very much from those appropriate for either offspring on parent regression or half sib covariance estimators, and that optimum designs are fairly robust against changes in parameter assumptions.

v.30:447-468, BIOMETRICS

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