AI Article Synopsis
- Germany has banned surgical castration of young male piglets without anesthesia since 2021, leading to concerns about breeding for boar taint potentially affecting fertility.
- A study analyzed the genetic connections between boar taint-related compounds and fertility parameters in purebred Landrace and Large White pig populations, noting considerable heritability and varied relationships depending on the breed.
- The findings included 48 significant genetic associations and highlighted the need to carefully manage breeding practices to ensure that improvements in boar taint traits do not negatively impact fertility.
Article Abstract
The surgical castration of young male piglets without anesthesia is no longer allowed in Germany from 2021. One alternative is breeding against boar taint, but shared synthesis pathways of androstenone (AND) and several endocrine fertility parameters (EFP) indicate a risk of decreasing fertility. The objective of this study was to investigate the genetic background between AND, skatole (SKA), and six EFP in purebred Landrace (LR) and Large White (LW) populations. The animals were clustered according to their genetic relatedness because of their different origins. Estimated heritabilities (h) of AND and SKA ranged between 0.52 and 0.34 in LR and LW. For EFP, h differed between the breeds except for follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) (h: 0.28-0.37). Both of the breeds showed unfavorable relationships between AND and testosterone, 17-β estradiol, and FSH. The genetic relationships (r) between SKA and EFP differed between the breeds. A genome-wide association analysis revealed 48 significant associations and confirmed a region for SKA on chromosome (SSC) 14. For EFP, the results differed between the clusters. In conclusion, r partly confirmed physiologically expected antagonisms between AND and EFP. Particular attention should be spent on fertility traits that are based on EFP when breeding against boar taint to balance the genetic progress in both of the trait complexes.
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| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7831948 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11010231 | DOI Listing |
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