Question

Make up a numerical example to compute the EPD's for 2 individuals with 10 progeny records each. Give the computed EPD's and accuracies. You need to determine a specie and trait. Use heritability estimate from the book.

Answer 1

To compute the Estimated Progeny Differences (EPDs) for two individuals with 10 progeny records each, you need to determine the species and trait. Let's assume beef cattle and the trait is birth weight. Using the heritability estimate, calculate the EPD by adding up the birth weights of the progeny, calculating the average birth weight, and subtracting the average birth weight of the population. The accuracy of the EPD can be calculated using a formula.

Step-by-step explanation:

To compute the Estimated Progeny Differences (EPDs) for two individuals with 10 progeny records each, we need to determine a species and trait. Let's assume we are studying beef cattle and the trait of interest is birth weight. We'll also need the heritability estimate for birth weight, which can vary depending on the population being studied. Let's assume the heritability for birth weight in our population is 0.40.

Now, we can calculate the EPD for each individual:

For example, if individual A has progeny with birth weights of 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, and 125 pounds, the average birth weight would be (80 + 85 + 90 + 95 + 100 + 105 + 110 + 115 + 120 + 125) / 10 = 103.5 pounds. If the average birth weight of the population is 100 pounds, the EPD for individual A would be 103.5 - 100 = 3.5 pounds.

To calculate the accuracy of the EPD, we can use the formula:

Accuracy = 1 - (1 / (2 * number of progeny records))

For our example with 10 progeny records, the accuracy would be 1 - (1 / (2 * 10)) = 1 - (1 / 20) = 0.95 or 95%.