Table 1.

Estimates of variance components and genetic parameters of telomere length at birth (TLB) and first lactation (TLFL) using different combinations of random effects (standard errors, in parentheses).

	TLB			TLFL
	A	M	IdeM	A	M	IdeM
V P	0.020 (0.001) *	0.020 (0.001) *	0.020 (0.001) *	0.023 (0.002) *	0.023 (0.002) *	0.023 (0.002) *
V A	0.007 (0.002) *	0.007 (0.002) *	0.007 (0.002) *	0.011 (0.004) *	0.011 (0.004) *	0.011 (0.004) *
V M	–	0.000 (0.000)	0.000 (0.001)	–	0.000 (0.000)	0.000 (0.000)
V E	0.013 (0.002) *	0.013 (0.002) *	0.012 (0.002) *	0.013 (0.003) *	0.013 (0.003) *	0.013 (0.003) *
h 2	0.36 (0.09) *	0.36 (0.09) *	0.35 (0.09) *	0.46 (0.15) *	0.46 (0.15) *	0.46 (0.15) *
m 2	–	0.00 (0.00)	0.02 (0.06)		0.00 (0.00)	0.00 (0.00)

A, direct additive genetic effect model; M, as A with maternal genetic effect; IdeM, as A with maternal environmental effect; V_P, total phenotypic variance; V_A, additive genetic variance; V_M, maternal variance, either genetic (model M) or environmental (model IdeM); V_E, residual variance; h², heritability; m², proportion of total phenotypic variance explained by the maternal variance.

*Estimates greater than zero (P < 0.05).