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The genetic gain thus far was expressed per generation. Now that we have calculated how many years are in a generation, we can express the genetic gain per year:
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If we briefly go back to the example with the jumping rabbits: The breeder was happy when selection was based on performance of 12 offspring. However, he may want to look into the matter in more detail because it will depend on the litter size whether this number can be achieved with a single batch of offspring, or whether multiple batches are required. Multiple batches mean more time and the generation interval in rabbits is low. In such situations it may be a consideration to accept a slightly lower accuracy of selection, but manage more generations of selection in the same time frame. It may result in more genetic gain per time unit in the longer run.
Thus:
| Paneel | ||
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Optimising genetic gain will require a balance between increase of the accuracy and increase of the generation interval |