Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Discuss variation, its causes and components, and heritability;
2. Learn and apply selection theory and use it to calculate genetic response;
3. Calculate repeatability and use it for ranking and selection of animals with repeated records;
4. Calculate breeding values and use it for selecting animals;
5. Discuss the different methods of selection and be able to compare their efficiency;
6. Learn and evaluate different breeding programmes and mating systems.
Cause, magnitude and nature of genetic variation in animal populations; Manipulation of variation in animal breeding programmes to improve production from livestock; Selection and mating systems; Performance recording, its purpose and use in breeding programmes; Breeding objectives and practical breeding plans for different livestock species; Reproductive technologies and molecular genetics in animal breeding; Possible roles of animal breeding in the livestock industries of PNG.
Falconer, D. S., Mackay, T. Introduction to quantitative genetics, Longman, London, UK, 1981.
Pattie, W. A., James, J. W., Principles of Applied Animal Breeding (lecture notes), Department of Animal Production, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 1985.
Bowman, J. C., An Introduction to Animal Breeding, Edward Arnold, London, UK, 1974.
Dalton, D. C., An Introduction to Practical Animal Breeding, Granada, London, UK, 1960.
Continuous assessment 40%
Written examination 60%
Phone: +675 473 4999 Fax: +675 475 7776
