Agronomy Department, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Zollikofen, Switzerland.
Animal. 2013 May;7(5):714-20. doi: 10.1017/S1751731112002273. Epub 2012 Dec 5.
Genetically reducing boar taint using low-taint lines is considered the most sustainable and economic long-term alternative to surgical castration of male pigs. Owing to the high heritability of the main boar taint components (androstenone, skatole and indole), breeding is an excellent tool for reducing the number of tainted carcasses. To incorporate boar taint into breeding programmes, standardized performance testing is required. The objective of this study was to develop and formally present a performance test for the main boar taint compounds on live breeding candidates. First, a standardized performance test for boar taint was established. A biopsy device was developed to extract small tissue samples (200 to 300 mg) from breeding candidates. Quantification of boar taint components from these small samples using specialized chemical extraction methods proved accurate and repeatable (r = 0.938). Following establishment of the method, biopsy samples of 516 live boars (100 to 130 kg live weight) were collected in the second step. Various mixed linear models were tested for each boar taint compound; models were ranked in terms of their information content. Pedigree information of 2245 ancestors of biopsied animals was included, and genetic parameters were estimated using univariate and multivariate models. Androstenone (in μg/g liquid fat (LF): mean = 0.578, σ = 0.527), skatole (in μg/g LF: mean = 0.033, σ = 0.002) and indole (in μg/g LF: mean = 0.032, σ = 0.002) levels obtained by biopsy were plausible. Heritability estimates for androstenone calculated with univariate (0.453) and multivariate (0.452) analyses were comparable to those in the literature. Heritabilities for skatole (0.495) and indole (0.550) were higher than that for androstenone. Genetic and phenotypic correlations were similar to those published previously. Our results show that data on boar taint compounds from small adipose samples obtained by biopsy provide similar genetic parameters as that described in the literature for larger samples and are therefore a reliable performance test for boar taint in live breeding candidates.
利用低异味品系从基因上减少公猪异味被认为是最可持续和经济的长期选择，可替代对公猪进行外科去势。由于主要公猪异味成分（雄甾酮、粪臭素和吲哚）的遗传力很高，因此育种是减少有异味胴体数量的极好工具。为了将公猪异味纳入育种计划，需要进行标准化性能测试。本研究的目的是开发并正式提出一种活体候选种猪主要公猪异味化合物的性能测试方法。首先，建立了一种标准化的公猪异味性能测试方法。开发了一种活检设备，用于从小型候选猪活体组织样本中提取小样本（200-300mg）。使用专门的化学提取方法从小样本中定量测定公猪异味成分，结果证明准确且可重复（r=0.938）。在方法建立后，在第二步中采集了 516 头活体公猪（体重 100-130kg）的活检样本。针对每种公猪异味化合物测试了各种混合线性模型；根据信息量对模型进行了排序。包含了 2245 头活检动物祖先的系谱信息，并使用单变量和多变量模型估算了遗传参数。通过活检获得的雄甾酮（以μg/g 液体脂肪（LF）计：平均值=0.578，标准差=0.527）、粪臭素（以μg/g LF 计：平均值=0.033，标准差=0.002）和吲哚（以μg/g LF 计：平均值=0.032，标准差=0.002）水平是合理的。单变量（0.453）和多变量（0.452）分析计算的雄甾酮遗传力估计值与文献中的值相当。粪臭素（0.495）和吲哚（0.550）的遗传力高于雄甾酮。遗传和表型相关性与之前发表的结果相似。我们的结果表明，通过活检从小脂肪样本中获得的公猪异味化合物数据提供了与文献中大样本中描述的相似的遗传参数，因此是活体候选种猪公猪异味的可靠性能测试方法。
