Genetic parameters for milk traits, somatic cell, and total bacteria count scores in Brazilian Jersey herds

ABSTRACT This study aimed to estimate the heritability of milk yield (MY), fat percent (F%), fat yield (FY), protein percent (P%), protein yield (PY), somatic cell score (SCS), and total bacterial count score (TBCS) as well as to estimate the genetic correlations among these traits, using a dataset from 5,918 lactations of Jersey cows in Brazil. The covariance components were estimated by restricted maximum likelihood using the PEST and VCE6 programs. The average values obtained for MY, F%, FY, P%, PY, SCS, and TBCS were 5017.5 kg, 4.3%, 192.3 kg, 3.3%, 173.0 kg, 5.9, and 2.9, respectively, wh...