An-Najah Staff

Faculty of Graduate Studies

Master program in animal production

Instructor: Dr. Jihad ABDALLAH 

Lecture day and time: Tuesday 2-3

Objective: this is an advanced course whose aim is to acquaint the students with advanced notions and tools in genetic improvement of livestock breeds. The first part of the course covers in depth the theoretical concepts of population and quantitative genetics and the statistical tools related to these concepts and the second part covers the practical aspects of animal breeding.

1) Understanding Animal Breeding, 2nd edn (1999). Richard Bourdon. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey

2) Falconer and MacKey (1996). Introduction to quantitative Genetics, Fourth edition, Longman Group Ltd., Burnt Mill, Harlow, Essex.

3) Mrode, R. A. (1996). Linear models for the prediction of animal breeding values. CAB International, Wallingfrd, UK.

4) Jalal and Karam (2003). Animal Breeding, Sixth edition, 2003. (in Arabic).

5) Almallah and Dabdoub (1990). Genetics with applications to animal breeding. (in Arabic)

1- Population Genetics (Lectures 1-2)

- Basic definitions

- Types of gene action

- Gene and genotypic frequencies

- Factors affecting gene frequency

- Hardy-Weinberg law

- Genetic drift

- Inbreeding and quantifying population subdivision

- Effective population size

2- Inbreeding and genetic relationships in pedigrees (Lectures 3 - 4)

-  Path method

-  Tabular method

-  Coancestry coefficient

3- Genetic model for quantitative traits (Lectures 5-6)

- Simply inherited and polygenic traits

- Mean and genetic variance for quantitative traits

- Genetic value

- Breeding value

- Gene combination value

- Producing ability

4- Genetic parameters: (Lectures 7- 8)

- Components of phenotypic variation

- Heritability and repeatability

- Estimation of genetic parameters

5- Genetic evaluations (Lectures 9-10)

- Prediction of breeding values

- BLUP

6- Selection methods (Lecture 11)

- Selection for single traits

- Selection for multiple traits

- Selection index

7- Expected genetic improvement (Lectures 12)

-  Selection response

- Genetic correlation and correlated response

8- Mating systems (Lecture 13)

- Inbreeding systems and inbreeding depression

- Crossbreeding systems and Heterosis

9- Genetic improvement schemes (Lecture 14)

- MOET and Progeny testing schemes

- Open and closed nucleus schemes

10- New approaches in animal breeding (Lecture 15)

- Gene detection and gene mapping

- Major genes and QTL

- Marker assisted selection

- Genomic selection

Grading system

- First term exam: 25 points

- Midterm exam: 25 points

- Final exam: 50 points