Abstract
A study was carried out to evaluate and compare phenotypic characteristics of the two native pig populations in Sri Lanka as a part of a comprehensive study on characterization of native pigs, in order to assess the contribution of native populations in animal production. A total of 60 animals were randomly selected for phenotypic measurements of village pigs from Kalutara, Puttalam, Kurunegala and Chilaw, and the similar number of wild pigs was selected from Batticaloa, Polonaruwa, Anuradhapura, Kurunegala and Kandy areas according to their availability. Morphological characters were assessed to identify the phenotypic variation between village and wild pigs. The body shape, coat colour and presence of skin pigmentation of wild pigs differ from those characteristics observed in village pigs. Wild pigs predominantly showed an angular body shape and light brown coat colour without skin pigmentation. Both wild and village pigs showed similarities with respect to the length of hair, shape of the head and the size of the ear. The study further revealed that the village pigs were significantly different (P<0.05) from wild pigs in their body weight, girth, height at withers and tail length while the body length and head dimensions of the two groups were not significantly different (P<0.05). Female wild pigs were significantly different (P<0.05) from female village pigs with respect to the body weight, girth size, body length and tail length. The mean number of teats that the female village pig and female wild pig possessed was 6.71±0.46 and 5.40±0.51, respectively. The results of this study revealed that the wild pigs exhibit similarities to village pigs for most of the qualitative traits and some quantitative traits, indicating that the village pig population in Sri Lanka has a close relationship with wild pig population. However, some animals in wild pig population showed different morphometry from that of village pig confirming that the wild pigs possess some specific characteristics as they are a unique population. <strong>Key words: </strong>Phenotypic variation; village pigs; wild pigs. DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/tar.v22i3.3705">http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/tar.v22i3.3705</a> <em>Tropical Agricultural Research </em>22(3) (2011) 324-329
Highlights
Among meat producing animals, swine is considered as an animal of great importance with immense potential because of its high prolificacy and efficient feed conversion (Devendra and Thomas, 2002)
The descriptive traits were useful in identifying population differences and Phenotypic variation in village and wild pigs draw inferences on the distances between populations as those are predominantly controlled by few genes with major effect
The angular body shape is a unique character in wild pigs, which is typical in describing the unimproved body shape; slim in loin area and bulk in shoulder area (Holness, 1991)
Summary
Swine is considered as an animal of great importance with immense potential because of its high prolificacy and efficient feed conversion (Devendra and Thomas, 2002). Evaluating and assessing the phenotypic variation among native pig populations are important to identify the uniqueness of populations and the possible gene flow between wild and village pig populations. A recent study reported on genetic characterization of native pigs in Sri Lanka depicted that there is a close genetic relationship between the two populations (Thangarajah, 2009). This paper presents the methodology adopted for the field level investigations on morphological and reproductive parameters of village pigs and wild pigs at different locations in Sri Lanka.
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