Economic values for lean meat and fat efficiency in Norwegian Landrace nucleus pig population

• Published in: Acta agriculturae Scandinavica. Section A, Animal science Vol. 66; no. 3; pp. 145 - 151
• Main Authors: Martinsen, Kristine Hov, Olsen, Dan, Ødegård, Jørgen, Meuwissen, Theodorus
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis 02.07.2016; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Animal breeding; Animal populations; Breeding; Economic importance; Economics; Efficiency; feed efficiency; Hogs; Iron; Livestock breeding; Meat; Norwegian Landrace; Nuclei; Pork; profit function; Regression analysis; Regression models; standardized economic value; Swine
• ISSN: 0906-4702; 1651-1972
• DOI: 10.1080/09064702.2017.1284259

A profit function was developed to estimate economic values for new efficiency traits for fattening pigs in Norwegian Landrace. These traits were lean meat efficiency (LME) and fat efficiency (FE). LME and FE described how much feed the animal used to produce 1 kg lean meat and fat as a deviation from the mean. Both traits were derived from analysing total feed consumption in a random regression model which included lean meat and fat content of the carcass (FC) as random covariates. In addition, economic values and breeding values were calculated for days from 40 to 100/120 kg live weight (DAYS), lean meat percentage (LMP) and FC. To compare LME and FE with total feed intake (FI), two indexes were constructed. One index included LME, FE, DAYS, LMP and FC and was referred to as breeding goal A and one index included FI, LMP and DAYS and was referred to as breeding goal B. The standardized economic values for LME and FE were 8.9 and 2.9 EUR/σ a , respectively. There was a larger variation in the index for breeding goal A (SD = 5.65) than B (SD = 3.97). The results suggested that the two efficiency traits had an economic importance in pork production and that there was a potential for increased genetic gain in profit by using breeding goal A compared to breeding goal B.