Department of Veterinary Clinical and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
J Anim Sci. 2013 Jun;91(6):2587-95. doi: 10.2527/jas.2012-6107. Epub 2013 Mar 18.
Boar taint is an offensive odor that affects the smell and taste of cooked pork, resulting mainly from the accumulation of skatole and androstenone in the back fat of intact males. The aim of the study was to estimate genetic parameters for skatole and androstenone and their genetic relationship to production and litter size traits. Concentrations of skatole and androstenone in the back fat were available for approximately 6,000 and 1,000 Landrace boars, respectively. The concentrations were log-transformed to align phenotypic measures to a normal distribution. Heritability estimates for Log(skatole) and Log(androstenone) were 0.33 and 0.59, respectively. The genetic correlation between the 2 measures of boar taint was 0.37, suggesting that genetic selection against boar taint based on only 1 of the chemical compounds could be insufficient. The boar taint compounds had low and mostly favorable genetic correlations with the production traits. Most noticeable, a favorable genetic correlation of -0.20 between meat percentage and Log(skatole) was estimated and hence continued selection for lean pigs can also slowly reduce the level of boar taint if the desired carcass weight is kept constant. The relationship between litter size traits (measured on sows related to boars) and boar taint compounds was low and not significantly different from 0. In conclusion, skatole and androstenone can be reduced through selection without affecting important economical production and litter size traits. Therefore, animal breeding offers an effective and sustainable solution to surgical castration of male piglets.
猪臊味是一种令人反感的气味，会影响熟猪肉的气味和味道，主要是由于完整公猪背部脂肪中粪臭素和雄甾烯酮的积累。本研究的目的是估计粪臭素和雄甾烯酮的遗传参数及其与生产和产仔数性状的遗传关系。大约有 6000 头长白公猪和 1000 头长白公猪的背部脂肪中粪臭素和雄甾烯酮的浓度可用于分析。将浓度进行对数转换，使表型测量值符合正态分布。Log(粪臭素)和 Log(雄甾烯酮)的遗传估计值分别为 0.33 和 0.59。两种猪臊味化合物的遗传相关性为 0.37，表明仅基于 1 种化学物质对猪臊味进行遗传选择可能不够。这两种猪臊味化合物与生产性状的遗传相关性较低且大多为正。最值得注意的是，估计出肉率和 Log(粪臭素)之间存在有利的遗传相关性为-0.20，因此，如果保持所需的胴体重不变，继续选择瘦肉型猪也可以缓慢降低猪臊味的水平。产仔数性状（与公猪相关的母猪测量）与猪臊味化合物之间的关系较低，且与 0 无显著差异。总之，可以通过选择降低粪臭素和雄甾烯酮的水平，而不会影响重要的经济生产和产仔数性状。因此，动物育种为雄性仔猪的手术去势提供了一种有效且可持续的解决方案。
