Population parameter estimates for performance and reproductive traits in Polish Large White nucleus herds.

Abstract

Performance test records from on-farm tests of young Polish Large White boars and reproductive records of Polish Large White sows from 94 nucleus farms during 1978 to 1987 were used to estimate population parameters for the measured traits. The number of boar performance records after editing was 114,347 from 3,932 sires, 21,543 dams, 44,493 litters and 1,075 herd-year-seasons. Reproductive performance records of sows involved 41,080 litters from 2,348 sires, 18,683 dams and 1,520 herd-year-seasons. Both data sets were analyzed by using restricted maximum-likelihood programs. The model used for the performance records included fixed herd-year-seasons, random sires, dams and error effects, and covariances for the year of birth of sire and year of birth of dam. The model used for the reproduction data set was the same as the performance data with parity as an additional fixed effect. Estimated heritabilities were .27, .29, .26, .07, .06, .06 for average daily gain standardized to 180 d (ADG), backfat thickness standardized to 110 kg BW (BF), days to 110 kg (DAYS), litter size at birth born alive (NBA), litter size at 21 d (N21) and litter weight at 21 d (W21), respectively. Estimated common environmental effects for the same traits were .09, .10, .09, .06, .07 and .08, respectively. Genetic correlations were .25 (ADG and BF), -.99 (ADG and DAYS), -.21 (BF and DAYS), .91 (NBA and N21), .68 (NBA and W21) and .80 (N21 and W21). The respective phenotypic correlations were .23, -.99, -.20, .88, .75, .86. These population parameters for Polish Large White pigs are similar to those for breeds in other countries.

Genetic parameters of production and reproduetive traits in on a farm tested Danish Large White and Landrace swine in Greece

“…On the contrary, values close to zero (0.03) were obtained for the heritabilities of NW in both breeds. These values are also out of the ränge (0.06 to 0.08) which is reported in the literature for heritability of NW (KAPLON et al, 1991;ROEHE and KENNEDY, 1995). This result indicates that selection for reproduetive Performance should concentrate on NB.…”

“…The highest values were obtained between age and BT in LW (-0 44) and between . Negative genetic correlations between age and BT are reported widely in the literature in the magnitude of-0.05 to -0.54 in both breeds (JEFFRIES and PETERSON, 1982;KENNEDY et al, 1985;SAVOIE and MINVIELLE, 1988;KAPLON et al, 1991;HOFER et al" 1992;LO et al 1992-BIDANEL et al, 1994LI and KENNEDY, 1994). Negative genetic correlations between BT and MD are found also by LO et al (1992).…”

“…Heritability of NB was found higher in LD than in LW sows. The value estimated in LD (0.25) is out of the ränge (0.02 to 0.18) reported from KAPLON et al (1991), FERRAZ andJOHNSON (1993), SEE et al (1993), ROEHE and KENNEDY (1995) and from DUCOS and BIDANEL (1996). On the contrary, values close to zero (0.03) were obtained for the heritabilities of NW in both breeds.…”

“…Reported heritabilities for these traits are in the ränge of 0.21 to 0.59 for LD and 0.21 to 0.53 for LW SAVOIE and MTNVIELLE, 1988;GU et al, 1989;KAPLON et al, 1991;HOVENIER et al, 1992;LO et al, 1992;BRYNER et al, 1992;BIDANEL et al, 1994;LI and KENNEDY, 1994;DUCOS and BIDANEL, 1996;BRANDT and TAEUBERT, 1998). Selection on production traits has proved to be efficient in both breeds.…”

Genetic parameters for litter size in Black Slavonian pigs

“…Generally smaller litters characteristic for local pig breeds, as well as piglet losses during the first few days after farrowing reduce the phenotypic variance for NBA (Kaplon et al, 1991). Recording procedure where piglets are counted few days after farrowing at pig family farms additionally reduce phenotypic variance for NBA.…”