Elo Method and Race Traits: A New Integrated System for Sport Horse Genetic Evaluation

Andrea Giontella; Francesca Maria Sarti; Giovanni Paolo Biggio; Samira Giovannini; Raffaele Cherchi; Maurizio Silvestrelli; Camillo Pieramati

doi:10.3390/ani10071145

Elo Method and Race Traits: A New Integrated System for Sport Horse Genetic Evaluation

Animals (Basel). 2020 Jul 6;10(7):1145. doi: 10.3390/ani10071145.

Authors

Andrea Giontella¹, Francesca Maria Sarti², Giovanni Paolo Biggio³, Samira Giovannini², Raffaele Cherchi³, Maurizio Silvestrelli¹, Camillo Pieramati¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Veterinary Medicine-Sportive Horse Research Center, University of Perugia, via S.Costanzo 4, 06123 Perugia, Italy.
² Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno, 74, 06121 Perugia, Italy.
³ AGRIS, Servizio Ricerca Qualità e Valorizzazione delle Produzioni Equine, piazza D. Borgia, 4, 07014 Ozieri, Sassari, Italy.

Abstract

This first survey on Sardinian Anglo-Arab horse (SAA) race traits highlights important aspects for the breeding purpose of this population. The heritability of the race traits were estimated through a trivariate model; the estimates were 0.39, 0.33, and 0.30 for the number of placings, total earnings and Elo rating, respectively. The genetic progress could be improved by using an MT genetic evaluation of stallions and mares, combining information from competition traits.

Keywords: Elo method; Sardinian Anglo-Arab horse; genetic evaluation; race traits.