Irish Wolfhound (IW) is a large dog breed developed several centuries ago with an average longevity of 7 years The genetics behind the short lifespan is poorly understood. Based on data from the Irish Wolfhound database (IWDB) on 118,095 pedigreed IW and data from the IW Longevity Study including 10,122 dogs with known longevity and 6,057 of these having a known cause of death (COD), longevity and the two most common COD were analysed. Heritability, maternal effects, and correlations were estimated accounting for sex, birthyear, country of origin and inbreeding coefficient. Both longevity (0.27) and COD (0.17-0.20) were moderately heritable. Longevity and COD showed low correlations, both genetic and residual correlations. We argue that this is likely due to short longevity being caused by early aging and COD being specific expressions of early aging. In addition, inbreeding was found to significantly reduce longevity. Implications for increasing longevity in IW are discussed.
Proceedings of 12th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (WCGALP)
Technical and species orientated innovations in animal breeding, and contribution of genetics to solving societal challenges
EditorsR.F. Veerkamp and Y. de Haas
Published: 2022 Pages: 3364
eISBN: 978-90-8686-940-4
Book Type: Conference Proceedings
755. Longevity and major causes of death are heritable in Irish Wolfhound
C.J.A. van Gemert Related information
1Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, 1432 Ås, Norway.
2Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, the Netherlands.
, J.J. Windig Related information2Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, the Netherlands.
2Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, the Netherlands.
, P. Berg Related information1Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, 1432 Ås, Norway.
*Corresponding author: peer.
*Corresponding author: peer.
Published Online: February 09, 2023
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