Covariance components for test day records and lactation milk yield using 263.390 records of 32.448 first lactation Holstein cows, were estimated using animal models by REML. Besides the lactation model, two alternative repeatability models (RM) were analyzed. Lactation model included fixed effects of herd-year-season and age of cow with linear and quadratic terms, and random effects of animal and error. The first model for test-day yield (RMF) included the same effects, but fixed effect of contemporary group, defined as herd-year-month of test. Alternatively another model for test-day yield (RMF) used a logarithmic polynomial sub-model for the shape of the lactation curve. Heritability for lactation yield (0.27) was smaller than those estimated by RMF and RMS, 0.30 and 0.43, respectively. Heritability estimates for univariate (0.22-0.36) and bivariate models (0.23-0.33) for test day milk yields were found to be smallest during early and late lactation. Heritability estimate for lactation milk yield when estimated by univariate model (0.27) was smaller than estimates obtained by bivariate models (0.27-0.30). Genetic correlations were higher between consecutive test days than between test days in the beginning and end of lactation. Larger heritability estimates for test day models and large genetic correlations between test day and lactation yield (0.86-0.99) indicate a potential use of test day records in genetic evaluations.
genetic evaluation; genetic parameters; milk yield; multivariate analysis; selection; test day model; variance components
