Genetic analysis for reproductive and longevity traits in Landlly sows

Abstract

The rate of reproduction and lifetime productivity of the animals determine the success of a herd. As these features significantly impact sow productivity, welfare, and profitability, there is considerable interest in global swine breeding programmes to genetically select better sows for these attributes. In this scenario, reliable heritability estimates and genetic correlations between traits are essential for the success of genetic selection for such traits. The goals of the current study were to examine the reproductive and longevity traits and to estimate the genetic and phenotypic parameters for these traits in Landlly sows kept at a swine production farm, Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India. The effect of non-genetic factors on different reproductive traits was estimated using SPSS version 16.0 and Bayesian approach which were utilized to estimate the genetic parameters for reproductive and longevity traits. The current study’s finding that the year and season of birth significantly affect reproductive traits generally suggests that there is potential for boosting productivity by optimising managemental practices. The heritability estimates were low for the reproductive and longevity traits, indicating a very little additive genetic variance in these traits, and individual selection will not be helpful for improving them. As some traits, such as LSB_FF & LSW_FF and LSB _SF & LSW_SF, have a moderate genetic correlation, indirect selection can be used to improve these two pairs of features.