The enhancement of rabbit female functional longevity, that is the ability to avoid voluntary culling, is a paramount aspect for the sustainability of meat rabbit production; this trait represents a direct indicator of female robustness. The objective of our study was to compare the functional longevity of five rabbit lines at their foundation and at fixed times during their selection processes. Four of them are maternal lines (A, V, H and LP) selected for litter size at weaning. The fifth line is the paternal line R, founded and selected for post-weaning daily gain from 28 to 63 days. The comparison at foundation involved the complete data set (from March 1980 to March 2013; records of 15,670 does) and pedigree (19,405 animals). Latter comparisons were made when all lines shared the same environmental and management conditions, from March 1997 to September 1998 and from March 2011 to September 2012. In these second comparisons, the same model as that used in the comparison at foundation was used, but now the additive effect was excluded, only data from the corresponding periods were considered. At their foundation, lines V, H and LP showed larger functional longevity than lines A and R, being LP line that with the longest productive life. In the latter comparisons, lines A and R still showing the lowest functional longevities. However, as the selection process evolves, the differences between these two lines and the others were reduced. It could be concluded that the average longevity of a population greatly depends on the criteria followed for its foundation. In addition, along the selection for litter size, the differences of longevity between lines tend to decrease, this is due to an unintended selection for functional longevity, since only offspring from females reaching three parturitions are selected as breeding animals for the next generation.

中文翻译：

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基于不同标准的五个兔子品系的功能寿命：选择后的基础和固定时间的比较

提高兔雌性功能寿命，即避免自愿扑杀的能力，是肉兔生产可持续性的一个重要方面；这种特征代表了女性健壮性的直接指标。我们研究的目的是比较五个兔子品系在其基础和选择过程中的固定时间的功能寿命。其中四个是为断奶时的窝产仔数选择的母系（A、V、H 和 LP）。第五行是父系 R，建立并选择断奶后 28 至 63 天的日增重。基金会的比较涉及完整的数据集（从 1980 年 3 月到 2013 年 3 月；记录 15,670 只）和谱系（19,405 只动物）。当所有生产线共享相同的环境和管理条件时，进行了后来的比较，从1997年3月到1998年9月，从2011年3月到2012年9月。在第二次比较中，使用的模型与基础比较中使用的模型相同，但现在排除了加性效应，只考虑了相应时期的数据。在它们的基础上，线 V、H 和 LP 显示出比线 A 和 R 更长的功能寿命，是生产寿命最长的 LP 线。在后面的比较中，线 A 和 R 仍然显示出最低的功能寿命。然而，随着选择过程的发展，这两条线与其他线之间的差异减少了。可以得出结论，一个人口的平均寿命在很大程度上取决于其基础所遵循的标准。此外，随着窝产仔数的选择，品系之间的寿命差异趋于减小，