Genetics of Sow Efficiency in the Finnish Landrace and Large White Populations

The results showed that the sow efficiency traits are generally lowly heritable. The only exceptions are buck kneed on fore legs (conformation trait), age at first farrowing and gestation length, which are moderately heritable. The most substantial unfavorable correlation among sow efficiency traits exists between litter size and piglet mortality. In general, there was a tendency for sow efficiency traits to be favorably correlated with performance traits, and unfavorably with carcass lean and fat percentages, whereas there was no clear association between sow efficiency and meat quality

Emakon kestävyyttä voi parantaa

Emakon kestävyys on periytyvä ominaisuus ja sitä on mahdollista parantaa jalostuksen avulla. Se on perinnöllisesti yhteydessä hedelmällisyyteen ja jakojen rakenneominaisuuksiin. Siksi jalostusarvojen laskennassa tulisi ottaa huomioon monta ominaisuutta. Emakon kestävyyteen vaikuttaa suuresti myös eläinten hoito tilalla sekä muut tilakohtaiset tekijät. Yksi tärkeimmistä tekijöistä on riittävä energiansaanti imetysaikana.vo

POTSI - POrsastuotannon Tehokkuus SIkaloissa

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Effect of Weaning Age on Nursery Pig Performance

Weaning age is an extremely important management decision in commercial pork production. The decision is based upon many factors which include sow performance, herd health, pig performance and costs and revenues associated with these factors such as lactation space utilization, and weaned pig value. The industry shifted to weaning litters at earlier ages in order to improve piglet health throughout the nursery and grow finish phases of production. In order to avoid transmission of pathogens from sow to piglet, the Segregated Early Weaning (SEW) concept was developed. This process consists of farrowing sows on the same site as the rest of the breeding herd, weaning piglets from 10 to 21 days and decreasing the amount of medication that is administered (Harris, 2000). Applying these management practices impacts subsequent piglet growth performance. Limited research has been conducted to determine the weaning age that results in optimum performance of the pig in its early stages of development and still provides protection to a variety of pathogens. The objective of this study was to quantify the effects of two weaning ages on nursery pig performance in a commercial production system

Whole-genome association analysis of pork meat pH revealed three significant regions and several potential genes in Finnish Yorkshire pigs

Background: One of the most commonly used quality measurements of pork is pH measured 24 h after slaughter. The most probable mode of inheritance for this trait is oligogenic with several known major genes, such as PRKAG3. In this study, we used whole-genome SNP genotypes of over 700 AI boars; after a quality check, 42,385 SNPs remained for association analysis. All the boars were purebred Finnish Yorkshire. To account for relatedness of the animals, a pedigree-based relationship matrix was used in a mixed linear model to test the effect of SNPs on pH measured from loin. A bioinformatics analysis was performed to identify the most promising genes in the significant regions related to meat quality. Results: Genome-wide association study (GWAS) revealed three significant chromosomal regions: one on chromosome 3 (39.9 Mb-40.1 Mb) and two on chromosome 15 (58.5 Mb-60.5 Mb and 132 Mb-135 Mb including PRKAG3). A conditional analysis with a significant SNP in the PRKAG3 region, MARC0083357, as a covariate in the model retained the significant SNPs on chromosome 3. Even though linkage disequilibrium was relatively high over a long distance between MARC0083357 and other significant SNPs on chromosome 15, some SNPs retained their significance in the conditional analysis, even in the vicinity of PRKAG3. The significant regions harbored several genes, including two genes involved in cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling: ADCY9 and CREBBP. Based on functional and transcription factor-gene networks, the most promising candidate genes for meat pH are ADCY9, CREBBP, TRAP1, NRG1, PRKAG3, VIL1, TNS1, and IGFBP5, and the key transcription factors related to these genes are HNF4A, PPARG, and Nkx2-5. Conclusions: Based on SNP association, pathway, and transcription factor analysis, we were able to identify several genes with potential to control muscle cell homeostasis and meat quality. The associated SNPs can be used in selection for better pork. We also showed that post-GWAS analysis reveals important information about the genes' potential role on meat quality. The gained information can be used in later functional studies.Peer reviewe

Factors Associated with Sow Stayability

The purpose of this study was to determine the association of production factors with stayability to parity 4 (STAY 4), defined as the ability of a sow to reach 4th parity. Data was from the National Pork Producers Council Maternal Line National Genetic Evaluation Program, which included 6 genetic lines and consisted of 3,283 female pigs. Factors significant for STAY 4 included: farm, entry date, age at first farrowing, average daily gain, gilt backfat, and lactation prior to removal, feed intake, number born alive, and lactation length. Age at first farrowing and lactation feed intake in the lactation prior to removal had the greatest phenotypic relationships with sow longevity across genetic lines. A younger age at first farrowing under a uniform environment was positively related to length of productive life. Genetically, selection for a reduced age at first farrowing should increase sow longevity. However, a sow that is older at first farrowing may also be favorable for sow longevity. Commercial producers should strive to increase lactation feed intake through good management to ensure sow longevity

Large-scale association study for structural soundness and leg locomotion traits in the pig

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Identification and culling of replacement gilts with poor skeletal conformation and feet and leg (FL) unsoundness is an approach used to reduce sow culling and mortality rates in breeding stock. Few candidate genes related to soundness traits have been identified in the pig.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, 2066 commercial females were scored for 17 traits describing body conformation and FL structure, and were used for association analyses. Genotyping of 121 SNPs derived from 95 genes was implemented using Sequenom's MassARRAY system.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Based on the association results from single trait and principal components using mixed linear model analyses and false discovery rate testing, it was observed that <it>APOE, BMP8, CALCR, COL1A2, COL9A1, DKFZ, FBN1 </it>and <it>VDBP </it>were very highly significantly (P < 0.001) associated with body conformation traits. The genes <it>ALOX5, BMP8</it>, <it>CALCR, OPG</it>, <it>OXTR </it>and <it>WNT16 </it>were very highly significantly (P < 0.001) associated with FL structures, and <it>APOE, CALCR, COL1A2, GNRHR, IHH</it>, <it>MTHFR </it>and <it>WNT16 </it>were highly significantly (P < 0.01) associated with overall leg action. Strong linkage disequilibrium between <it>CALCR </it>and <it>COL1A2 </it>on SSC9 was detected, and haplotype -ACGACC- was highly significantly (P < 0.01) associated with overall leg action and several important FL soundness traits.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present findings provide a comprehensive list of candidate genes for further use in fine mapping and biological functional analyses.</p

Characterization of U.S. Cull Sows

Physical and reproductive conditions of cull sows (3,158) from two U.S. Midwestern harvest plants were assessed. Body condition, feet, shoulders, teeth, lungs, and reproductive tracts were visually evaluated for gross lesions on harvested sows. From the observations of this study, body condition score (BCS) was associated with several abnormal conditions of sows. Whether the lesions caused BCS to change, BCS caused the lesions, or the lesions and BCS changed simultaneously is unknown. Most of these abnormal conditions are difficult to reliably observe by production personnel in the farm setting. Observation and attention to BCS may serve as an indicator of other lesions that have the potential to lessen the productivity of the sow. Causative relationships were not established by this study. However, the strong associations observed suggest that sows that do not respond to increased feeding with improved BCS on farm could reasonably be expected to have additional lesions that may have poor prognosis for high performance. The prevalence of reproductive lesions detected in the current study was substantially lower than the reported percentage of sows culled for reproductive failure in previous farm based studies. Additional characterizations may be able to relate on-farm management practices to one or more lesions that had a high occurrence in the present study