Comparative estimation of repeatability of birth weight in four rabbit breeds

The study involved 89 kits from ten primiparous Does of four rabbit breeds (Hyla, Dutch, Checkered and Chestnut) which were evaluated for their birth weight. There was two Hyla Does with 12 kits, three Dutch Does with 36 kits, three Checkered Does with 24 kits and 2 Chestnut Does with17 kits. The mean birth weight in the entire study ranged between 25.0g and 80.0g, the mean birth weight in the entire study was 49.17 ± 1.29g, while the mean birth weight across the breeds was 48.08 ± 4.96g, 47.47 ± 2.01g, 56.88 ± 1.80g and 42.65 ± 1.51g respectively for Hyla, Dutch, Checkered and Chestnut. The experiment was a Completely Randomized Design where breed was the single factor studied. There was statistical (P<0.05) difference in birth weight due to breeds, with the Checkered breed having significantly higher birth weight than the Dutch and Chestnut, while there was no significant difference between Hyla and the three other breeds. A one-way analysis of variance of between Does within breed revealed that of the four breeds, it was only the Chestnut breed that Doe effect was not significant (P>0.05). The largest Doe effect on birth weight was recorded in the Hyla breed (54.04%) while it was 44.74%, 33.16% and 12.02% respectively for Dutch, Checkered and Chestnut. Repeatability is the proportion of total variation in a set of measurements resulting from differences among individuals. These values were estimated from the variance components as Intraclass coefficient, and repeatability and standard errors obtained in the study was 0.65 ± 0.30, 0.52 ± 0.24, 0.35 ± 0.33 and 0.11 ± 0.12 for the Hyla, Dutch, Checkered and Chestnut respectively, which indicated the potentials for early selection and breeding plan for the breeds with moderate to high repeatability values.