Table 6.

Statistics^a of marginal posterior distributions for heritability estimates at − 0.75, − 0.5, + 0.5 and + 0.75 sd of the explanatory covariates, and of differences in estimates of heritabilities (${\mathit{h}}^2$) and of genetic (${\mathit{\sigma }}_{\mathit{a}}^2$) and phenotypic (${\mathit{\sigma }}_{\mathit{P}}^2$) variances at − 0.75 and + 0.75 sd of the explanatory covariates^b

	$h_{@-0.75}^2$	$h_{@-0.5}^2$	$h_{@+0.55}^2$	$h_{@+0.75}^2$	Estimated differences between parameters at − 0.75 and + 0.75 sd units
					$h^2$	${\mathit{\sigma }}_a^2$	${\mathit{\sigma }}_P^2$
$\text{MW}$
Mean	0.20	0.17	0.10	0.10	0.10	9001	− 2383
sd	0.04	0.04	0.05	0.05	0.06	6077	4278
HPD	0.12; 0.27	0.10; 0.24	0.01; 0.19	0.01; 0.19	− 0.02;0.20	− 3243;19,668	− 10,965;5913
Pr| $\widehat{p}$ |>0c	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	0.94	0.92	0.29
$\text{WG}$
Mean	0.08	0.09	0.17	0.19	− 0.11	− 9600	4076
Sd	0.04	0.04	0.04	0.04	0.04	3492	2960
HPD	0.01;0.15	0.01;0.16	0.09;0.24	0.11;0.27	− 0.18;− 0.04	− 16,662;− 3027	− 1620;9978
Pr| $\widehat{p}$ |>0c	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	0.01	0.02	0.92
$\text{FG}$
Mean	0.10	0.11	0.16	0.18	− 0.08	− 6690	2375
Sd	0.05	0.05	0.04	0.04	0.04	3832	2606
HPD	0.01;0.18	0.02;0.18	0.08;0.23	0.10;0.25	− 0.15;0.00	− 13,959;581	− 2763;7462
Pr| $\widehat{p}$ |>0c	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	0.02	0.04	0.82

$\text{MW}$ = mean metabolic weight; $\text{WG}$ = weight gain; $\text{FG}$ = back fat thickness gain

^aMean, standard deviation, highest posterior density (HPD) intervals, probability of the parameter to be higher than zero (Pr| $\widehat{p}$ | > 0)

^bFor each covariate assessed along its range, the other ones were kept at their average, i.e. at zero

^c Pr| $\widehat{p}$ | > 0 is only relevant for the differences between parameters, prior assumptions of the heritabilities force this quantity to be equal to 1