Oestrogen receptor genotypes and litter size in Hungarian Large White pigs

A total of 869 litter records of 226 Hungarian Large White sows have been analysed to investigate the possible use of the oestrogen receptor gene (ESR) as marker to improve litter size. First, second and later parities have been evaluated separately. Frequencies of A = 0.55 and B = 0.45 have been calculated for the two ESR alleles and the observed/ expected number of the three genotypes were as follows: AA: 71/69.1, AB: 108/111.8 and BB: 47/45.1. BB type first and later parity sows were superior to AB and AA sows for number born alive (NBA), total number of born (TNB) and the corrected number of weaned piglets (CNW), respectively.