In pig breeding, environmental challenges can affect the welfare and productivity of animals. Resilient animals have the capacity to be minimally affected by these environmental challenges. Understanding the genetic basis of sensitivity to these environmental challenges is crucial for selecting more resilient animals, thereby enhancing welfare and productivity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Population stratification based on interindividual variability in gut microbiota composition has revealed the existence of several ecotypes named enterotypes in humans and various animal species. Enterotypes are often associated with environmental factors including diet, but knowledge of the role of host genetics remains scarce. Moreover, enterotypes harbor functionalities likely associated with varying abilities and susceptibilities of their host.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present research has estimated the additive and dominance genetic variances of genic and intergenic segments for average daily gain (ADG), backfat thickness (BFT) and pH of the semimembranosus dorsi muscle (PHS). Further, the predictive performance using additive and additive dominance models in a purebred Piétrain (PB) and a crossbred (Piétrain × Large White, CB) pig population was assessed. All genomic regions contributed equally to the additive and dominance genetic variations and lead to the same predictive ability that did not improve with the inclusion of dominance genetic effect and inbreeding in the models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSteroid metabolism is a fundamental process in the porcine testis to provide testosterone but also estrogens and androstenone, which are essential for the physiology of the boar. This study concerns boars at an early stage of puberty. Using a RT-qPCR approach, we showed that the transcriptional activities of several genes providing key enzymes involved in this metabolism (such as ) are correlated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGiving up surgical castration is desirable to avoid pain during surgery but breeding entire males raises issues on meat quality, particularly on boar taint, and aggression. It has been known for decades that boar taint is directly related to sexual development in uncastrated male pigs. The proportion of tainted carcasses depends on many factors, including genetics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCrossbreeding in livestock can be used to increase genetic diversity. The resulting increase in variability is related to the heterozygosity of the crossbred animal. The evolution of diversity during crossbreeding can be assessed using genomic data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInnovations in the breeding and management of pigs are needed to improve the performance and welfare of animals raised in social groups, and in particular to minimise biting and damage to group mates. Depending on the context, social interactions between pigs can be frequent or infrequent, aggressive, or non-aggressive. Injuries or emotional distress may follow.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIncreasing stress resilience of livestock is important for ethical and profitable meat and dairy production. Susceptibility to stress can entail damaging behaviours, a common problem in pig production. Breeding animals with increased stress resilience is difficult for various reasons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In crossbreeding schemes, within-line selection of purebreds is performed mainly to improve the performance of crossbred descendants under field conditions. The genetic correlation between purebred and crossbred performance is an important parameter to be assessed because purebred performance can be a poor predictor of the performance of crossbred offspring. With the availability of high-density markers, the feasibility of using crossbred information to evaluate purebred candidates can be reassessed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: HPA axis plays a major role in physiological homeostasis. It is also involved in stress and adaptive response to the environment. In farm animals in general and specifically in pigs, breeding strategies have highly favored production traits such as lean growth rate, feed efficiency and prolificacy at the cost of robustness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Replacing pedigree-based BLUP evaluations by genomic evaluations in pig breeding schemes can result in greater selection accuracy and genetic gains, especially for traits with limited phenotypes. However, this methodological change would generate additional costs. The objective of this study was to determine whether additional expenditures would be more profitably devoted to implementing genomic evaluations or to increasing phenotyping capacity while retaining traditional evaluations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Previously, in boars with extreme androstenone levels, differential expression of the CYP11A1 gene in the testes has been characterised. CYP11A1 is located in a region where a QTL influencing boar fat androstenone levels has been detected in a Large White pig population. Clarifying the role of CYP11A1 in boar taint is important because it catalyses the initial step of androstenone synthesis and also of steroid synthesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMeat from rabbits reared either according to a standard (STAND) or a high quality norm (LABEL) or a low growth breeding (RUSSE) system were submitted to a sensory evaluation and to a large set of physicochemical measurements (weight of retail cuts, colour parameters, ultimate pH, femur flexure test, Warner-Bratzler shear test, water holding capacities and cooking losses). STAND rabbit meat exhibited the most juicy meat in back and in leg (p<0.01).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHigh levels of androstenone and skatole in fat tissues are considered the primary causes of boar taint, an unpleasant odour and flavour of the meat from non-castrated male pigs. The aim of this article is to review our current knowledge of the biology and genetic control of the accumulation of androstenone and skatole in fat tissue. Two QTL mapping studies have shown the complexity of the genetic control of these traits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Improving pork quality can be done by increasing intramuscular fat (IMF) content. This trait is influenced by quantitative trait loci (QTL) sought out in different pig populations. Considering the high IMF content observed in the Duroc pig, it was appealing to determine whether favourable alleles at a major gene or QTL could be found.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwo-dimensional electrophoresis was used to compare Longissimus sarcoplasmic protein abundance between two groups (tough meat and tender meat), defined on the basis of extreme Warner-Bratzler shear force values measured on cooked pork. Fourteen protein spots differed in quantity (P<0.05) between the two groups and were identified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThirty-one bucks from two lines divergently selected for 63-d body weight (low, L and high, H) were solicited every week (twice at a 15min interval) during 18 weeks resulting in 482 ejaculates. While differing markedly on adult body weight (L: 4650g versus H: 5925g), both lines had the same testis weight. Libido did not differ between the lines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTexel sheep are renowned for their exceptional meatiness. To identify the genes underlying this economically important feature, we performed a whole-genome scan in a Romanov x Texel F2 population. We mapped a quantitative trait locus with a major effect on muscle mass to chromosome 2 and subsequently fine-mapped it to a chromosome interval encompassing the myostatin (GDF8) gene.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwo-dimensional electrophoresis was used to investigate sarcoplasmic protein expression in pig Semimembranosus muscles sampled 20 min after slaughter. Two groups (light and dark) of 12 animals were selected from 1000 pigs, based on meat L values measured 36 h postmortem. Twenty-two proteins or fragments (p < 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effects of selection for growth rate on weights and qualitative carcass and muscle traits were assessed by comparing two lines selected for live body weight at 63 days of age and a cryopreserved control population raised contemporaneously with generation 5 selected rabbits. The animals were divergently selected for five generations for either a high (H line) or a low (L line) body weight, based on their BLUP breeding value. Heritability (h2) was 0.
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