Question

A farmer is selectively breeding koala sheep to increase wool production. The farmer starts with a population that annually produces 6.8 kg of wool per sheep (standard deviation = 2.2) He chooses the top 10% of wool produces to breed the next generation; these koala sheep have a mean annual production of 11.3 kg of wool per koala sheep (standard deviation = 1.4). The next generation has a mean annual production of 10.4 kg of wool per koala sheep (standard deviation = 2.0). Based on this information, what was the selection differential in this population of koala sheep? Was the response to selection in this population of koala sheep? What was the heritability of wool production in this population of koala sheep?

Answer 1

1. Selection differential (SD) is a difference between measure of superiority of the selected parent koala sheep used for breeding to increase wool production over the total of the population of sheep.

SD = 11.3