Genetic and Phenotypic Parameters for Pelt Quality and Body Length and Weight Traits in American Mink

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The present study estimated the heritability, phenotypic and genetic correlations for different pelt quality measures, body weight and length traits in mink. Body weight and length measured on live animals in November of the first year of life were reliable indicators of dried pelt size, without negative impacts on pelt quality traits. In addition, body length in November and harvest had moderate positive genetic correlations with dried pelt quality, which made this trait an appealing trait to select for increased pelt size. The estimated genetic parameters for these traits can be used to improve fur characteristics in Canadian mink populations. ABSTRACT: Understanding the genetics of fur characteristics and skin size is important for developing effective breeding programs in the mink industry. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to estimate the genetic and phenotypic parameters for pelt quality traits including live grading overall quality (LQU), live grading nap size (LNAP), dried pelt size (DPS), dried pelt nap size (DNAP) and overall quality of dried pelt (DQU), and body length and weight traits, including November body weight (Nov_BW), November body length (Nov_BL), harvest weight (HW) and harvest length (HL) in American mink. Dried pelt quality traits on 1195 mink and pelt quality traits on live animals on 1680 were collected from mink raised at two farms, in Nova Scotia and Ontario. A series of univariate analyses were implemented in ASReml 4.1 software to identify the significance (p < 0.05) of random effects (maternal genetic effects, and common litter effects) and fixed effects (farm, sex, color type, year, and age) for each trait. Subsequently, bivariate models were used to estimate the genetic and phenotypic parameters using ASReml 4.1. Heritability (±SE) estimates were 0.41 ± 0.06 for DPS, 0.23 ± 0.10 for DNAP, 0.12 ± 0.04 for DQU, 0.28 ± 0.06 for LQU, 0.44 ± 0.07 for LNAP, 0.29 ± 0.10 for Nov_BW, 0.28 ± 0.09 for Nov_BL, 0.41 ± 0.07 for HW and 0.31 ± 0.06 for HL. DPS had high positive genetic correlations (±SE) with Nov_BW (0.89 ± 0.10), Nov_BL (0.81 ± 0.07), HW (0.85 ± 0.05) and HL (0.85 ± 0.06). These results suggested that body weight and length measured on live animals in November of the first year were reliable indicators of dried pelt size. DQU had favorable genetic correlations with Nov_BL (0.55 ± 0.24) and HL (0.46 ± 0.20), and nonsignificant genetic correlations with DNAP (0.13 ± 0.25), Nov_BW (0.25 ± 0.25) and HW (0.06 ± 0.20), which made body length traits an appealing trait for selection for increased pelt size. High positive genetic correlation (±SE) was observed between LNAP and DNAP (0.82 ± 0.22), which revealed that nap size measurement on live animals is a reliable indicator trait for dried pelt nap size. However, nonsignificant (p > 0.05) low genetic correlation (±SE) was obtained between LQU and DQU (0.08 ± 0.45), showing that indirect selection based on live grading might not lead to the satisfactory improvement of dried pelt overall quality. The estimated genetic parameters for live grading, dried pelt quality, and body weight and body length traits may be incorporated into breeding programs to improve fur characteristics in Canadian mink populations.