New reproduction index in selection of dam pig population

KRUPOVÁ, Zuzana, KRUPA, Emil, ŽÁKOVÁ, Eliška, ZAVADILOVÁ, Ludmila a KAŠNÁ, Eva., 2022 New reproduction index in selection of dam pig population. In Book of Abstracts of the 73rd Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science. Wageningen, The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers, s. 714. ISSN
Year2022
CathegoryOthers
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Abstract

Reproduction ability of dam breeds belongs to the key parameters of the sustainable pig production. Litter size, farrowing interval and number of teats can be employed in breeding to synchronously enhance both the production and functional parameters of sows. Moreover, current production and economic parameters faced in pig sector should be regularly reflected in the selection process. Therefore, the reproduction index (RI) established for the Czech dam pig breeds 5 years ago was now updated to fit current conditions. Regarding the RI construction, four selection criteria, namely the number of piglets born in total (TNB), born alive (NBA) and weaned (NW) and farrowing interval of sows (FI) were employed to improve two breeding objectives (goals) i.e. NBA and FI. In the RI, each of the litter size trait is participating by 30% and FI by 10%. General principles for the selection index theory and for the selection response calculation were applied using the current genetic and economic parameters of dam breeds. Economic values of the goal traits expressed per sow and year (gained from the bio-economic model of the program package ECOWEIGHT) were 20.82 € per piglet born alive and -2.90 € per day of FI. Reliability of the breeding values estimated for selection criteria slightly increased by 7% over the last period and reached 51%, 49%, 47% and 19%, respectively. According to the current population parameters and RI construction the expected annual selection response is 0.150 piglet born alive and -0.023 day of FI. Optimising the index construction (to 23:11:50:16 ratio of traits) would result to more favourable genetic gain in both of breeding goals (+0.010 NBA and -0.013 of FI). Moreover, the reliability of animals’ selection would be slightly improved from 51% to 56% and overall annual economic response in breeding objectives would be increased by 8% to 3.43 €.