Nurse capacity in crossbred sows and genetic correlation to purebred fertility

Abstract Text: This study developed a new trait that describes the nursing capacity (NC) of crossbred sows, traces the genetic effect back to the two purebred lines, and estimates the genetic correlation with fertility in the purebreds. In 2010 to 2013, an experiment was conducted in three large production herds with 11,247 first-parity Danish Landrace x Yorkshire sows (gilts). All terminal sires used were Duroc AI boars. At farrowing, the total number born (TNB) was recorded. During the first three days, after farrowing the number of piglets in each litter was equalized to 14 piglets. The NC was recorded after three weeks as the number of piglets nursed. The NC recorded on crossbred gilts had heritabilities of 0.047 and 0.066 tracing it back to purebred populations of Landrace and Yorkshire. Unfavorable genetic correlations between TNB in purebreds and NC in crossbreds were found.

Keywords:

nurse capability

crossbred

purebred