The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK.
Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo 11241, Egypt.
Genes (Basel). 2022 Mar 23;13(4):561. doi: 10.3390/genes13040561.
Social network analysis (SNA) has provided novel traits that describe the role of individual pigs in aggression. The objectives were to (1) estimate the genetic parameters for these SNA traits, (2) quantify the genetic association between SNA and skin lesion traits, and (3) investigate the possible response to selection for SNA traits on skin lesion traits. Pigs were video recorded for 24 h post-mixing. The observed fight and bullying behaviour of each animal was used as input for the SNA. Skin lesions were counted on different body parts at 24 h (SL24h) and 3 weeks (SL3wk) post-mixing. A Bayesian approach estimated the genetic parameters of SNA traits and their association with skin lesions. SNA traits were heritable (h2 = 0.09 to 0.26) and strongly genetically correlated (rg > 0.88). Positive genetic correlations were observed between all SNA traits and anterior SL24h, except for clustering coefficient. Our results suggest that selection for an index that combines the eigenvector centrality and clustering coefficient could potentially decrease SL24h and SL3wk compared to selection for each trait separately. This study provides a first step towards potential integration of SNA traits into a multi-trait selection index for improving pigs’ welfare.
社会网络分析（SNA）提供了描述个体猪在攻击行为中作用的新特征。目的是：(1) 估计这些 SNA 特征的遗传参数，(2) 量化 SNA 与皮肤损伤特征之间的遗传关联，以及 (3) 研究 SNA 特征对皮肤损伤特征的可能选择反应。猪在混合后 24 小时内进行视频记录。每个动物的观察到的战斗和欺凌行为被用作 SNA 的输入。在混合后 24 小时 (SL24h) 和 3 周 (SL3wk) 时，对不同身体部位的皮肤损伤进行计数。贝叶斯方法估计了 SNA 特征的遗传参数及其与皮肤损伤的关联。SNA 特征是可遗传的（h2 = 0.09 至 0.26），并且具有很强的遗传相关性（rg > 0.88）。除了聚类系数外，所有 SNA 特征与前 SL24h 之间均存在正遗传相关性。我们的研究结果表明，与单独选择每个特征相比，选择组合特征向量中心度和聚类系数的指数可能会潜在地降低 SL24h 和 SL3wk。本研究为将 SNA 特征纳入改善猪福利的多特征选择指数提供了第一步。
