Selection Indices Used in Different Breeding Systems with Pigs of Maternal Breeds
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Selection Indices Used in Different Breeding Systems with Pigs of Maternal Breeds E. E. Melnikovaa, *, S. A. Nikitina, A. V. Kabanova, A. A. Sermyagina, S. N. Kharitonova, and N. A. Zinovievaa aErnst
VIZh Federal Science Center for Animal Husbandry, Dubrovitsy, Moscow oblast, 142132 Russia *e-mail: [email protected] Received April 22, 2020; revised April 27, 2020; accepted April 30, 2020
Abstract—The objective of the study was to analyze the efficiency of selection of the maternal breed pigs based on their scores for the indices of complex traits. Databases of phenotypes in the Large White pigs (n = 23753) for reproductive performance (farrowing performance) and meat and fattening productivity in progeny (n = 34 866) produced from the livestock population at OOO Selection and Hybrid Center (Verkhnyaya Khava, Voronezh oblast) were used. During the study, the economic values for reproductive traits, meat quality, and fattening performance were determined; their trait heritability coefficients were calculated. As a result, the selection index equations for estimating the animal breeding values have been derived to calculate the selection index based on productivity (SI1) and the overall selection index (SI2) for comprehensive evaluation of livestock population and subsequent selection of specimens in order to produce purebred or crossbred progeny. It is recommended to use the SI1 scores in selecting sows and boars for purebred breeding and the SI2 scores in crossbreeding to produce the replacement F1 gilts. Keywords: pigs, Large White breed, productivity traits, heritability, selection index DOI: 10.3103/S1068367420050134
INTRODUCTION The profitability challenges facing the pig industry have attracted considerable worldwide attention. Selection breeding programs for pigs of maternal breeds tend to include the new indicators. The surveys of their economic evaluation and relationship with traditional selection indicators are performed. The DNA-markers associated with their expression are being searched for [1–3]. In order to manage the rates of genetic improvement, it is important to understand the strength and the tendencies of relationships between the selection traits to predict the changes in all the complex traits of economic importance in the animals of future generations [1, 4, 5]. Over the last several years, selecting the animals among the maternal breeds and lines for increasing the multifetal pregnancy rates was generally performed. However, it was proven that this approach is associated with increasing the stillbirth rates or the death rates in piglets during the first days after their births [4, 6, 7]. According to the data from K. Alves et al. (2018), the growth rates of piglets in the early age are strongly correlated with their weight at birth. This research paper proves that a certain weight of a piglet at birth significantly correlates with safety and welfare of a piglet and a behavior pattern. The close genetic relationships between a piglet’s birth weight, the weaning weight,
and its e
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