Table 3.

Variance components and genetic parameter estimates for litter traits in American mink

Traits1	Variance components2			Genetic parameters3
	${\text{σ}}_a^2\pm \text{SE}$	${\text{σ}}_{pe}^2\pm \text{SE}$	${\text{σ}}_e^2\pm \text{SE}$	$h^2\pm \text{SE}$	$c_{pe}^2\pm \text{SE}$	$r^2\pm \text{SE}$
TB	0.40 ± 0.16	0.22 ± 0.28	5.73 ± 0.29	0.06 ± 0.02*	0.03 ± 0.04	0.09 ± 0.04*
LB	0.35 ± 0.18	0.00 ± 0.01	4.10 ± 0.23	0.08 ± 0.04*	0.00 ± 0.01	0.08 ± 0.04*
LW	0.41 ± 0.13	0.00 ± 0.01	4.41 ± 0.16	0.08 ± 0.02*	0.00 ± 0.01	0.08 ± 0.02*
SB	45.16 ± 12.72	36.25 ± 17.94	278.12 ± 16.05	0.13 ± 0.03*	0.10 ± 0.05*	0.23 ± 0.04*
SW	49.07 ± 18.94	50.18 ± 20.79	491.85 ± 29.03	0.08 ± 0.03*	0.09 ± 0.04*	0.17 ± 0.04*
AWB	0.95 ± 0.24	0.14 ± 0.27	2.39 ± 0.22	0.27 ± 0.06*	0.04 ± 0.07	0.31 ± 0.06*
AW3	50.99 ± 16.45	9.50 ± 22.10	232.61 ± 19.86	0.17 ± 0.05*	0.03 ± 0.07	0.20 ± 0.06*
AWW	377.74 ± 179.02	58.69 ± 266.80	2937 ± 251	0.11 ± 0.05*	0.02 ± 0.08	0.13 ± 0.07
GL	4.82 ± 0.92	0.29 ± 1.01	11.93 ± 0.82	0.28 ± 0.04*	0.02 ± 0.05	0.30 ± 0.04*

¹TB = total number of kits born; LB = number of kits alive at birth; LW = number of kits alive at weaning; SB = survival rate at birth; SW = survival rate at weaning; AWB = average kit weight per litter at birth; AW3 = average kit weight per litter at week 3; AWW = average kit weight per litter at weaning; GL = gestation length.

² ${\text{σ}}_a^2$ = additive genetic variance; ${\text{σ}}_{pe}^2$ = permanent environmental variance; ${\text{σ}}_e^2$ = residual variance.

³ h ² = heritability; $c_{pe}^2$ = proportion of permanent environmental effect; r² = repeatability.

*P < 0.05.