Osteochondrosis in Duroc pigs scored by computed tomography; heritabilities based on genomic and pedigree relationship matrices

Abstract Text: The main objective was to estimate the heritability of osteochondrosis by using phenotypes from an established method based on computed tomography (CT). Furthermore, validation of including genomic information was performed by comparing estimated heritability for the trait by using pedigree information (h²_A) and by using the combined pedigree and genomic relationship between the animals (h²_G). Estimates were based on phenotypes (n=1882) and genotypes (n=2857) from Duroc boars. The scoring of OC was performed by assigning scores (0-5) on eight anatomical locations based on images from the CT, and the trait OCT was the sum score of these. Results show a minor increase in the heritability estimates by including the genomic relationship (h²_A=0.24, h²_G=0.27). We conclude that CT is a suitable tool for assessing OC, and partial replacement of the pedigree-based relationship matrix by a genomic based relationship matrix will result in increased heritability.

Keywords:

computed tomography

osteochondrosis

genomic relationship