Page 14 - Linear Models for the Prediction of Animal Breeding Values

familiar with matrix algebra, a section on introductory matrix algebra has been incor-
porated as Appendix A. It is also assumed that the reader is familiar with the basic
principles of quantitative genetics.
Several examples have been used to illustrate the various models for genetic
evaluation covered in the text, and attempts have been made to present formulae that
explain how the solutions for random and fixed effects in the models were obtained
from the mixed model equations. This illustrates to the reader how the various pieces
of information are weighted to obtain the genetic merit of an animal under various
models.
Every attempt has been made to ensure the accuracy of the text, but in the event
of errors being discovered, please inform the author.
Professor Robin Thompson contributed the chapter on estimation of variance
components despite his busy schedule and reviewed the manuscript of earlier editions.
His contribution is immensely acknowledged. The chapter on genomic selection
was reviewed by Drs Ben Hayes, Ricardo Pong-Wong and Professor John A.
Woolliams and I am grateful for their valuable input. Drs Gabor Mészáros and Sue
Brotherstone reviewed the chapter on survival analysis within a very tight schedule
and I acknowledge their contribution. I am grateful to Professor Denny Cruz and
Dr Victor Olori for reviewing the chapters on social interaction and on reducing the
dimension of multivariate analysis. I am greatly indebted to Professors W.G. Hill
and Mr G. Swanson for reviewing the manuscript of earlier editions; their com-
ments and suggestions resulted in substantial improvements in the text. Drs Martin
Lidauer and Ismo Stranden read specific chapters or sections; I acknowledge their
useful suggestions. The assistance of Dr Sebastian Mucha in preparing the graphs
in the text is greatly acknowledged. In addition, experience gained from working
with Dr Mike Coffey and the late Professors C. Smith and B.W. Kennedy has been
valuable in writing this book. I also wish to express my thanks to Prof. R.L. Quaas
for permission to use information from his unpublished note on inbreeding algo-
rithm; Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit, University of New England, Australia,
for allowing me to adopt some materials from BLUP Handbook for Chapter 2 of
the text; and Prof. Fernando R.L. to use some his material from the Iowa State
University 2010 summer course. My sincere gratitude to my wife, Doris, for her
immense support, and for typing part of the manuscript. Special thanks to Kevwe,
Joshua and Esther for their cooperation, especially when I had to take time off to
prepare the manuscript, and to many dear friends who were of great encouragement.
Finally, to God be all the glory.

R.A. Mrode
Scotland’s Rural College
(Former Scottish Agricultural College)
Edinburgh

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