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Simultaneous estimation of daily weight and feed intake curves for growing pigs by random regression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2011

M. Wetten ,
J. Ødegård ,
O. Vangen  and
Th. H. E. Meuwissen
M. Wetten*
Affiliation:
Norsvin, PO Box 504, NO-2304 Hamar, Norway
J. Ødegård
Affiliation:
NOFIMA MARIN, PO Box 5010, NO-1432 Ås, Norway Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB), PO Box 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway
O. Vangen
Affiliation:
Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB), PO Box 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway
Th. H. E. Meuwissen
Affiliation:
Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB), PO Box 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway
*
†E-mail: marte.wetten@norsvin.no
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Abstract

In this study, random regression models were used to estimate covariance functions between feed intake and BW in boars from the two breeds: the Norwegian Landrace and the Norwegian Duroc. In total, 1476 animals of the Norwegian Landrace breed and 1300 animals of the Norwegian Duroc breed had registrations on daily feed intake and growth from 54 to 180 days of age. Random regressions on the Legendre polynomials of age were used to describe genetic and permanent environmental curves in BW (up to the second order) and feed intake (up to the first order) for both the breeds. Heritabilities on BW increased over time for the Landrace (0.18 to 0.24), but were approximately constant for the Duroc (0.33 to 0.35). Average heritabilities for feed intake were approximately the same in both the breeds (0.09 to 0.11), and the estimates decreased over time, most pronounced in Duroc. On the basis of the current data, daily feed intake was seemingly controlled by the same genetic factors throughout the test period for Duroc; however, for Landrace, genetic correlations between test days decreased with increasing distance in time. For BW, the genetic correlations between test days were in general high, and did not go below 0.8 for any of the two breeds in this study. For both feed intake and BW, permanent environmental correlations between start and end of the test were reduced with increasing difference in days, most pronounced in Duroc. This study indicates that weight of the animal at the end of the test was more closely genetically correlated to feed intake of earlier periods compared with later periods of growth for both the breeds. This may be explained by the fact that BW is the cumulative growth of an individual, which is likely to be heavily affected by the feed intake during the most intense growth period.

Keywords

growthfeed intakepigrandom regressiongenetic correlations
Type
Full Paper
Information
animal , Volume 6 , Issue 3: 61th EAAP Annual Meeting, 2010, Heraklion, Greece: 10th International Workshop on Biology of Lactation in Farm Animals (BOLFA) and Session “Evolution of mammary gland and milk secretion: consequences for lactation in farm animals” , 27 January 2012 , pp. 433 - 439
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2011

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