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Breeding for resilience in finishing pigs can decrease tail biting, lameness and mortality.

Wim Gorssen¹, Carmen Winters^1,2, Roel Meyermans¹

¹Center for Animal Breeding and Genetics, Department of Biosystems, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 30, Box 2472, 3001, Leuven, Belgium.

Genetics, Selection, Evolution : GSE

|June 20, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Breeding pigs for resilience using longitudinal weight data can reduce tail biting, lameness, and mortality. This approach also enhances uniformity within pig pens, indicating improved overall health and welfare.

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Area of Science:

Animal Science
Genetics
Animal Welfare

Background:

Longitudinal data deviations in pigs are heritable and serve as proxies for general resilience.
Limited research exists on the relationship between resilience traits from longitudinal data and specific health/welfare indicators.
This study addresses the need to investigate the link between resilience derived from longitudinal data and traits like wounds, lameness, and mortality.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the relationship between resilience traits derived from longitudinal data deviations and specific pig health and welfare indicators.
To assess the heritability of resilience traits and their genetic correlations with tail biting wounds, lameness, and mortality.
To determine if breeding for these resilience traits can improve pig health, welfare, and uniformity.

Main Methods:

Monitored 1919 finishing pigs bi-weekly, recording body weight and physical abnormalities (lameness, wounds).
Assessed resilience using deviations in body weight, weighing order, and activity during weighing.
Analyzed associations between resilience traits and physical abnormality traits, estimating genetic parameters.

Main Results:

Deviations in body weight showed moderate heritability (25.2%–36.3%) and were positively correlated with tail biting wounds, lameness, and mortality.
Deviations in weighing order (4.2% heritability) and activity (12.0% heritability) had low heritability and no significant association with the studied welfare traits.
Individual body weight deviations correlated positively with pen-level uniformity, suggesting breeding for resilience can enhance uniformity.

Conclusions:

Breeding for resilience based on longitudinal weight data can decrease tail biting, lameness, and mortality in pigs.
These resilience traits are indicators of general health and welfare, valuable for pig breeders.
The findings support quantifying resilience using longitudinal body weights in other animal species.