Effects of incorporating environmental cost and risk aversion on economic values of pig breeding goal traits

Ali, Beshir M.; Mey, Yann de; Bastiaansen, J.W.M.

doi:10.1111/jbg.12331

Cited by 18 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Beyond being an economic bottleneck, feed greatly contributes to the environmental impacts of pig farming (McAuliffe et al, 2016). Improvement in feed efficiency is a major goal for pig production sustainability, because it reduces environmental fluxes associated with feed production (Nguyen et al, 2011) and reduces the amount of effluent per pig as a result of mass balance (Ali et al, 2018). Feed efficiency, which is usually inversely expressed as feed conversion ratio (FCR), stands for the BW gain per unit of feed consumed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating environmental impacts of selection for residual feed intake in pigs

Soleimani

Gilbert

2020

Animal

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To identify a proper strategy for future feed-efficient pig farming, it is required to evaluate the ongoing selection scenarios. Tools are lacking for the evaluation of pig selection scenarios in terms of environmental impacts to provide selection guidelines for a more sustainable pig production. Selection on residual feed intake (RFI) has been proposed to improve feed efficiency and potentially reduce the associated environmental impacts. The aim of this study was thus to develop a model to account for individual animal performance in life cycle assessment (LCA) methods to quantify the responses to selection. Experimental data were collected from the fifth generation of pig lines divergently selected for RFI (low line, more efficient pigs, LRFI; high line, less efficient pigs, HRFI). The average feed conversion ratio (FCR) and daily feed intake of LRFI pigs were 7% lower than the average of HRFI pigs (P < 0.0001). A parametric model was developed for LCA based on the dietary net energy fluxes in a pig system. A nutritional pig growth tool, InraPorc®, was included as a module in the model to embed flexibility for changes in feed composition, animal performance traits and housing conditions and to simulate individual pig performance. The comparative individual-based LCA showed that LRFI had an average of 7% lower environmental impacts per kilogram live pig at farm gate compared to HRFI (P < 0.0001) on climate change, acidification potential, freshwater eutrophication potential, land occupation and water depletion. High correlations between FCR and all environmental impact categories (>0.95) confirmed the importance of improvement in feed efficiency to reduce environmental impacts. Significant line differences in all impact categories and moderate correlations with impacts (>0.51) revealed that RFI is an effective measure to select for improved environmental impacts, despite lower correlations compared to FCR. Altogether more optimal criteria for efficient environment-friendly selection can then be expected through restructuring the selection indexes from an environmental point of view.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating environmental impacts of selection for residual feed intake in pigs

Soleimani

Gilbert

2020

Animal

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“…As indicated by Ali et al (2018) there are few studies that analyse the implications of considering GHG emission costs in the derivation economic values for pig breeding goal traits by monetizing these emissions. Following a different approach, these authors analysed the effect of incorporating environmental cost on economic values of pig breeding goal traits considering sow efficiency and production traits.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When sow productivity traits are considered together with pig feeding traits like feed conversion ratio it has been reported that considering GHG emissions for deriving economic values reduces the importance of sow efficiency traits (Ali et al, 2018). This was not surprising because as highlighted by different studies, feed conversion ratio is one of the most important parameters influencing environmental impacts (Reckmann and Krieter, 2015), but could lead to a not clear understanding of impact of considering environmental concerns on sows productivity traits, especially using complex methodological approaches.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bio-economic models are more and more commonly used allowing the consideration of the biological and the economic complexities of livestock systems (Nielsen et al, 2104). They have already been used in the analysis of the incorporation of the cost of GHG emissions into the calculation of economic values in different species (Ali et al, 2018;Krupa et al, 2017;Wall et al, 2010;Åby et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of incorporating greenhouse gas emission intensities in selection indexes for sow productivity traits

Alfonso

2019

Livestock Science

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Genetic improvement programmes should incorporate emerging challenges about environmental concerns into breeding goals. The large volume of pig meat production implies important greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions despite its lower carbon footprint per animal in front of ruminant productions. The different breeding goals considered by swine industry depending on different purebred lines, or line crosses adapted to different market demands and production constraints, could mask the effect of incorporating GHG emissions into selection indexes for improving sow productivity traits in nucleus populations. This paper analysed this effect following a methodological approach consisting in augmenting existing selection indexes derived from profit functions. An index previously described in the literature including litter size at birth, piglet perinatal survival, piglet survival to weaning, age at first conception and weaning to conception interval, was employed. This index was expanded to include GHG emissions calculating the emission intensities per litter, assuming a finished pig market and different scenarios and financial costs of GHG emissions. Results indicated that the inclusion of GHG emissions diminished the economic weight of litter size and piglet survival vs. the age at first conception and the interval weaning to conception, but did not affect significantly the contributions of these traits in the selection indexes. The improvement of sow productivity traits diluted relevantly the GHG emissions per piglet produced, and so, per kg of pork produced. The approach used in this study, despite its limitations in front of bio-economic models, has shown to be a simple and flexible way to analyse the effect of incorporating GHG emissions into existing selection indexes.

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“…environmental impacts) and breeders need to include these in their breeding objectives on top of economic performance. Mitigation of environmental impacts in breeding objectives on the basis of correlated traits can be achieved by the use of EVs that incorporate environmental costs Ali et al, 2018a). As noted, more selection emphasis should be given to efficiency traits (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing the environmental and economic sustainability of pig farming: the case of Brazil

Ali¹

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Brazil is the fourth largest producer and exporter of pork in the world. Pig farming is raising environmental and economic concerns, mainly associated with the production and use of feed. It causes major environmental impacts due to its strong dependence on scarce resources (e.g. arable land, fossil fuel), and release of pollutants to the air, water and soil (e.g. greenhouse gases, nitrogen). Pig farming relies heavily on high quality food crops (i.e. cereals and oilseeds). In recent years, the growing competition for these high quality food crops with other sectors such as the energy and food sectors has resulted in rising feed costs. The problem of rising feed cost is worsened by price volatility of cereals and oilseeds. The use of alternative feed sources and the genetic improvement of pigs through selective breeding are expected to improve the environmental and economic sustainability of pig farming. The aim of this thesis was to assess the impacts of using co-products in the diets of pigs and of genetic improvement of pigs through selective breeding on both the environmental and economic sustainability of pig farming in Brazil. The results show that the use of co-products in the diets of pigs in Brazil raises feed costs, global warming potential, energy use, and excretions of nitrogen and phosphorus. However, it reduces land use. The use of co-products that can be produced on marginal land (e.g. macaúba cake) improves the efficiency of pork production when marginal land is not used to grow food crops. Breeders can use economic values that are derived by accounting for risk and risk preferences of farmers in order to produce breeding materials that increase the utility of risk averse farmers. Similarly, the mitigation of environmental impacts can be incorporated in breeding goals via using economic values that are derived by accounting for environmental costs. Genetic improvement of traits that raise farm productivity has the potential to reduce environmental impacts of farming while also raising the utility of risk averse farmers. The study also measured the effect of genetic expenses on dynamic productivity growth and its components using data from Dutch specialized dairy farms over 2007-2013. The results show that spending greater than the median expenses on genetics has the potential to increase productivity growth associated with inputs and investments in the first two years after the expenses.

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Effects of incorporating environmental cost and risk aversion on economic values of pig breeding goal traits

Cited by 18 publications

References 25 publications

Evaluating environmental impacts of selection for residual feed intake in pigs

Evaluating environmental impacts of selection for residual feed intake in pigs

Impact of incorporating greenhouse gas emission intensities in selection indexes for sow productivity traits

Enhancing the environmental and economic sustainability of pig farming: the case of Brazil

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