title: Genetic and phenotypic correlations between performance traits with meat quality and carcass characteristics in commercial crossbred pigs.
abstract: Genetic correlations between performance traits with meat quality and carcass traits were estimated on 6,408 commercial crossbred pigs with performance traits recorded in production systems with 2,100 of them having meat quality and carcass measurements. Significant fixed effects (company, sex and batch), covariates (birth weight, cold carcass weight, and age), random effects (additive, litter and maternal) were fitted in the statistical models. A series of pairwise bivariate analyses were implemented in ASREML to estimate heritability, phenotypic, and genetic correlations between performance traits (n = 9) with meat quality (n = 25) and carcass (n = 19) traits. The animals had a pedigree compromised of 9,439 animals over 15 generations. Performance traits had low-to-moderate heritabilities (±SE), ranged from 0.07±0.13 to 0.45±0.07 for weaning weight, and ultrasound backfat depth, respectively. Genetic correlations between performance and carcass traits were moderate to high. The results indicate that: (a) selection for birth weight may increase drip loss, lightness of longissimus dorsi, and gluteus medius muscles but may reduce fat depth; (b) selection for nursery weight can be valuable for increasing both quantity and quality traits; (c) selection for increased daily gain may increase the carcass weight and most of the primal cuts. These findings suggest that deterioration of pork quality may have occurred over many generations through the selection for less backfat thickness, and feed efficiency, but selection for growth had no adverse effects on pork quality. Low-to-moderate heritabilities for performance traits indicate that they could be improved using traditional selection or genomic selection. The estimated genetic parameters for performance, carcass and meat quality traits may be incorporated into the breeding programs that emphasize product quality in these Canadian swine populations.
authors.affiliation: Livestock Gentec Centre, Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Younes
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miar
authors.affiliation: Livestock Gentec Centre, Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Plastow
authors.affiliation: Livestock Gentec Centre, Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bruce
authors.affiliation: Livestock Gentec Centre, Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Centre for Animal Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture & Food Innovation, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: Livestock Gentec Centre, Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Ghader
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Manafiazar
authors.affiliation: Genesus Genetics, Oakville, Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kemp
authors.affiliation: Hypor Inc., Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Charagu
authors.affiliation: Research and Technology Centre, Hendrix Genetics, Boxmeer, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Abe
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Huisman
authors.affiliation: Hypor Inc., Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
authors.forename: Benny
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: van Haandel
authors.affiliation: Livestock Gentec Centre, Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Chunyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: McKay GENSTAT Consultants Inc., Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McKay
authors.affiliation: Livestock Gentec Centre, Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Zhiquan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D008460:Meat / Q000592:standards*; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D013552:Swine