Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2021, Vol. 52 ›› Issue (8): 2115-2123.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2021.08.005

• ANIMAL GENETICS AND BREEDING • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Estimation of Genetic Parameters of Main Growth Traits in Landrace and Large White Pigs

HE Jieyu1,2, WANG Binhu2, LIAO Zhu3, XIE Hongtao3, YI Guoqiang2,4,5, LIU Yuwen2,4,5, AO Hong1*, TANG Zhonglin1,2,4,5   

  1. 1. Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China;
    2. Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518120, China;
    3. Hainan Luo Niu Shan Breeding Pig Co. Ltd., Haikou 571127, China;
    4. Kunpeng Institute of Modern Agriculture at Foshan, Foshan 528226, China;
    5. Guangxi Engineering Research Center of Resource Development of Bama Xiang Pig, Bama 547500, China
  • Received:2020-11-10 Online:2021-08-23 Published:2021-08-21

Abstract: This study aimed to predict and analyze the effects of fixed effects such as the year of birth, birth season, birth weight and the age at the beginning of test on the growth traits of Landrace and Large White pigs, and calculate the genetic parameter estimated values (heritability, genetic variance, phenotypic correlation, and genetic correlation), which would provide a basic reference for pig genetic improvement. In this experiment, the GLM model was used to analyze the effects of fixed effects on growth traits in the experimental pig herd (398 Landrace pigs and 1 176 Large White pigs), and a multi-trait animal model was used to perform the genetic parameters estimation to the target traits. The target growth traits included age to 100 kg (AGE), backfat to 100 kg (BF), and average daily gain to 100 kg (ADG). The study showed that, in Large White and Landrace pigs, the year of birth, birth season, birth weight, and the age at the beginning of test all had extremely significant effects on growth traits (P<0.001); The heritability of AGE, ADG and BF were 0.321, 0.327 and 0.324 in Landrace pigs, the heritability of the corresponding traits in Large White pigs were 0.454, 0.469 and 0.408, respectively. The genetic correlation and phenotypic correlation between ADG and AGE in Landrace pig were -0.990, -0.995, respectively; the genetic correlation and phenotypic correlation between ADG and AGE in Large White pigs were -0.993 and -0.998, respectively, showing a strong negative correlation. The growth traits (AGE, ADG, BF) of Landrace and Large White pigs were the traits with medium heritability. The year of birth, birth season, birth weight, and the age at the beginning of the test have a greater impact on the growth traits of pigs. When genetic parameters are estimated and analyzed, the reliability of genetic parameter estimation can be increased by increasing the number of samples and improving the quality of phenotypic data. In this study, the estimation results of the genetic parameters of growth traits are relatively reliable and can provide references for subsequent genetic improvement.

Key words: pigs, Landrace pig, Large White pig, growth traits, genetic parameter estimation

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