Advances in Quantitative Genetics

Some issues in quantitative genetics theory, other than molecular genetic analysis and utilisation, are reviewed. These include the development of models and methods for the analysis of longitudinal data, i.e. records continued or repeated over time, such as daily milk yield within and across lactation. The problems of identifying a range of alternative models and testing their fit are discussed. Consideration is given to the trade-off between long and short term response, where particular progress has been made in developing algorithms to compute effective population size and to optimise design of breeding programs for long-term response. Much of this work, including the utilisation of mutations, has been concentrated on selection for improvement of purebreds, and similar issues in relation to improvement of crossbreds are considered.