title: Use of entropy in the analysis of nominal traits in sheep.
abstract: In the analysis of dependencies between nominal traits entropy and its function, mutual information seems to be a proper descriptive statistic. This is shown by characterizing the relationships between the prolificacy of dams and selected genetic attributes: the genotype of transferrin, the genotype of hemoglobin, and the type of birth, as well as the environmental attribute, i.e., year of birth. The entropy method may improve the exactitude of investigations concerning the influence of different factors on production trait. The index of relative uniformity, introduced in this study, proved to be an adequate tool for the determination of similarity in the examined flocks. The application of mutual information in the determination of values of the dependence measures in the analyzed experiment was justified.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematical and Statistical Methods, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 28, 60-637, Poznań, Poland. andobek@up.poznan.pl
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dobek
authors.forename: Ryszard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Steppa
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moliński
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Slósarz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000235:genetics; D019277:Entropy; D005260:Female; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000235:genetics*; D008098:Litter Size / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D012737:Sex Factors; D012756:Sheep / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D014168:Transferrin / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D006454:Hemoglobins; D014168:Transferrin