Comparison of selection methods in simulated populations of broilers

Abstract

Populations of broilers were simulated by using the program Genesys, in order to evaluate the selection based on BLUP (best linear unbiased prediction), and the individual selection for three effective population sizes, and three mating systems of the selected reproducers. The simulated genome was constituted by a quantitative trait, which had heritability of 0.30, in a selection made during 15 consecutive generations, and 30 cycles for generation. BLUP was always superior to the individual selection during all generations evaluated with the same effective size and mating system.