Structural equation models allow causal effects between 2 or more variables to be
considered and can postulate unidirectional (recursive models; RM) or bidirectional …

Phosphorus utilization (PU) has received considerable attention in poultry nutrition.
However, reliable estimates of genetic parameters for PU and related traits have largely not …

Epigenetics has become one of the major areas of biological research. However, the degree
of phenotypic variability that is explained by epigenetic processes still remains unclear …

Efficient management of swine production systems requires understanding of complex
reproductive physiological mechanisms. Our objective in this study was to investigate …

There is recent evidence from laboratory experiments and analysis of livestock populations
that not only the phenotype itself, but also its environmental variance, is under genetic …

Reproductive success in the eight founder strains of the Collaborative Cross (CC) was
measured using a diallel-mating scheme. Over a 48-month period we generated 4,448 …

Perinatal piglet mortality is an important factor in pig production from economic and animal
welfare perspectives; however, the statistical analysis of mortality is difficult because of its …

Structural equation models (SEM) are a type of multi-trait model increasingly being used for
inferring functional relationships between multiple outcomes using operational data from …

Abstract We compared Hurdle Poisson (Hupoisson), Zero Inflated Poisson (Zipoisson),
Poisson and Gaussian Bayesian mixed models for genetic evaluation of litter traits in pigs …

Background Piglet mortality is an economically important complex trait that impacts sow
prolificacy in the pig industry. The genetic parameters estimations and genome-wide …