Fattening and meat qualities of hybrids from terminal boars of foreign selection

Abstract

The goal is to determine the efficiency of using terminal boars of the Optimus and Alba lines in hybridization systems. Methods. The research was carried out in the conditions of LLC "Agro-industrial company" of the Zaporizhzhia region. The object of the study were hybrid pigs obtained as a result of the combination of purebred and crossbred sows of different breeds with boars of the Optimus and Alba lines. The fattening and meat qualities of experimental pigs were determined according to the following indexes: average daily gain during the period of control fattening, g; age of reaching 100 kg live weight, days; feed consumption per 1 kg of live weight gain, feed. unit; thickness of lard at the level of 6–7 vertebrae, mm. A comprehensive evaluation of young pigs of the experimental groups for fattening and meat qualities was carried out based on the calculation of the Tyler index. The results. It was determined that, with the exception of lard thickness, descendants of boars of the Alba line prevailed in most productive traits, where, for example, the average daily growth of hybrid young pigs from ♀Durok×♂Landrace sows was at the level of 910 g with an evaluation index of 262.4 units. This applies to the combination of Alba boars with sows ♀Landrace×♂ Large White, where the average daily gains of the hybrids amounted to 894.0 g, and the age of reaching a live weight of 100 kg was 171.8 days, with an evaluation index of 259.3 units. (The average index for all combinations is 249.9 units). Combinations with the Optimus line slightly lagged behind Alba boars, especially in combinations with sows ♀Landras×♂ Large White, ♀Landras×♂Optimus, where the average daily gains were 753.1 and 763.1 g, respectively, with indices of 219.7 and 295.4 units However, the Optimus terminal line showed high results of the fattening qualities of the offspring with sows of the combination ♀Large White ×♂Landrace (average daily gains of 872.0 g, age of reaching 100 kg weight – 177 days with an evaluation index of 246.8 units). Taking into account the fact that sows of the combination ♀ Large White ×♂Landrace (F1) are most common in commodity farms of Ukraine, including in industrial complexes, the use of boars of the Optimus line should also be considered promising and should be widely used in hybridization. Conclusions. It was established that when sows of different origin were combined with boars of two terminal lines, higher results were obtained in the offspring of Alba boars, analogous groups by maternal origin prevailed in the offspring of Optimus line boars by 8.3–18.7 % in terms of average daily growth and by 1 .5–7.3 % by the age of reaching a live weight of 100 kg. The best result when using boars of the Optimus terminal line was obtained when they were combined with sows ♀LW×♂L (F1), the average daily gains were higher by 15.4–3.8 % compared to other variants of their combination with sows. Considering that ♀LW×♂L (F1) sows are the most common in commercial pig farming of Ukraine, the use of boars of the Optimus line should be recommended as promising in hybridization systems in which ♀LW×♂L (F1) sows are used. Key words: selection, hybridization, terminal boars, evaluation index, boar lines, fattening qualities.