Abstract
The consideration of feed efficiency traits is highly relevant in animal breeding due to economic and ecologic impacts of the efficient usage and utilization of feed resources. In pigs, corresponding observations are recorded using automatic feeding stations and serve as one of the main criteria in most pig selection programmes. Simultaneously, feeding stations also generate feeding behaviour data which represent a nearly unused resource and provide a valuable proxy measure of health status, animal welfare, and management practices. In the current study, an integrated approach was applied to a feed efficiency tested and genome-wide genotyped terminal sire line population. Therefore, genetic analyses were performed combining a single-marker based approach and a Bayesian multi-marker algorithm. Major quantitative trait loci (QTL) for feeding behaviour traits comprising daily occupation time, daily feeder visit, and daily feeding rate were identified on chromosomes 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 14. Feed efficiency was represented by feed conversion ratio and daily feed intake revealing prominent genomic regions on chromosomes 1, 6, 9, and 11. The positional and functional candidate genes identified are involved in transport processes like AQP4, SLC22A23, and SLC6A14 as well as energy sensing, generation, and utilization as exemplified by PPP3CA, IQGAP3, ECI2, and DnaJC15. These molecular features provide the first step towards the dissection of the genetic connection between distinct feeding behaviour patterns, feed efficiency and performance, health, and welfare traits driving the implementation of these traits in breeding programmes and pig husbandry.
Highlights
Beside growth rate and lean meat percentage, feed efficiency (FE) is the most important selection criteria implemented in breeding programmes affecting economic aspects and the environmental footprint of pig meat production (Kanis et al 2005; Reckmann et al 2016)
A second candidate gene deduced for SSC6 was AQP4 at 104.3 Mb window (Mb) which is located in a 0.7 Mb spanning linkage disequilibrium (LD) block from ASGA0095497 (104.1 Mb) to ALGA0111332 (104.8 Mb)
These results provide evidence for a common genetic foundation of the analysed traits and, for a genetic basis of certain feeding strategies as already indicated by comparing feeding behaviours of different pig breeds (Fernández et al 2011)
Summary
Beside growth rate and lean meat percentage, feed efficiency (FE) is the most important selection criteria implemented in breeding programmes affecting economic aspects and the environmental footprint of pig meat production (Kanis et al 2005; Reckmann et al 2016). Feed conversion ratio (FCR) is expressed as the ratio of body weight gain and feed intake. It is usually recorded for selected pigs during the grower–finisher phase via automated feeding stations implemented in group-housing systems (Maselyne et al 2015). An increased importance has been attached to FE traits in animal breeding to consider the efficient conversion of nutrients into body mass and as a major factor driving the productivity and the profitableness of the production system (Arthur and Herd 2005). FE and related traits are a major target for genomic selection strategies in livestock breeding (current state of research summarized by Samorè and Fontanesi 2016). The variation in FE is related to extrinsic factors like
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