HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Cecchinato, A. Articles by Carnier, P. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Cecchinato, A. Articles by Carnier, P.

The relevance of purebred information for predicting genetic merit of survival at birth of crossbred piglets

A. Cecchinato^*, G. de los Campos, D. Gianola, L. Gallo^* and P. Carnier^*

^* Department of Animal Sciences, University of Padova, viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy Department of Animal Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706, USA

alessio.cecchinato{at}unipd.it

Abstract

The objective of this study was to infer (co)variance components for piglet survival at birth in purebred (P) and crossbred (C) pigs. Data were from 13,643 (1,213 litters) C and 30,919 (3,162 litters) P pigs, produced by mating the same 168 P boars to 460 Large White-derived crossbred females and 1,413 P sows, respectively. The outcome variable was piglet survival at birth as a binary trait. A Bayesian bivariate threshold model was implemented via Gibbs sampling. Flat priors were assigned to the effects of sex, parity of the dam, litter size and year-month of birth. Gaussian priors were assigned to litter, dam and sire effects. Marginal posterior means (SD) of the sire and dam variances for liability of piglet survival in P were 0.018 (0.008) and 0.077 (0.020), respectively. For C, sire and dam variance estimates were 0.030 (0.018) and 0.120 (0.034), respectively. The posterior means (SD) of the heritability of liability of survival in P and C and of the genetic correlation between these traits were 0.049 (0.023), 0.091 (0.054), and 0.248 (0.336), respectively. The highest 95% confidence region (-0.406, 0.821) for the genetic correlation between P and C liabilities of piglet survival included zero. Results suggest that the expected genetic progress for piglet survival in C when selection is based on P information may be nil.

Key Words: Bayesian analysis • piglet survival • threshold model • genotype x environment interaction