Endocrine Fertility Parameters-Genomic Background and Their Genetic Relationship to Boar Taint in German Landrace and Large White

Simple Summary Breeding against boar taint compounds androstenone and skatole can be an efficient alternative for surgical castration of young piglets during their first week of life to avoid boar taint. Physiological links of androstenone to steroid hormones in the synthesis pathway are documented and they have to be analyzed for their genetic effects on reproduction and fertility. While using boar taint and hormone data from Landrace and Large White pigs (commercial nucleus populations and herd book populations), the effects of breeding against androstenone on fertility were evaluated. Moreover, the genetic foundation of the chosen hormones' testosterone, 17 beta-estradiol, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and progesterone was analyzed and then checked for possible pleiotropic effects with boar taint compounds. The results showed consistent unfavorable side effects of breeding against androstenone on testosterone and 17 beta-estradiol in both breeds. The other hormones showed contrary results regarding unfavorable relationships between boar taint and endocrine fertility parameters. The genetic foundation showed a high potential of breeding against boar taint but the impact on fertility potential should be supervised. The surgical castration of young male piglets without anesthesia is no longer allowed in Germany from 2021. One alternative is breeding against boar taint, but shared synthesis pathways of androstenone (AND) and several endocrine fertility parameters (EFP) indicate a risk of decreasing fertility. The objective of this study was to investigate the genetic background between AND, skatole (SKA), and six EFP in purebred Landrace (LR) and Large White (LW) populations. The animals were clustered according to their genetic relatedness because of their different origins. Estimated heritabilities (h(2)) of AND and SKA ranged between 0.52 and 0.34 in LR and LW. For EFP, h(2) differed between the breeds except for follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) (h(2): 0.28-0.37). Both of the breeds showed unfavorable relationships between AND and testosterone, 17-beta estradiol, and FSH. The genetic relationships (r(g)) between SKA and EFP differed between the breeds. A genome-wide association analysis revealed 48 significant associations and confirmed a region for SKA on Sus Scrofa chromosome (SSC) 14. For EFP, the results differed between the clusters. In conclusion, r(g) partly confirmed physiologically expected antagonisms between AND and EFP. Particular attention should be spent on fertility traits that are based on EFP when breeding against boar taint to balance the genetic progress in both of the trait complexes.

Automated summary

Breeding against boar taint compounds can be an efficient alternative to surgical castration of young piglets, but it may have unfavorable effects on fertility that need to be monitored. Results showed that breeding against androstenone could lead to consistent unfavorable side effects on testosterone and 17 beta-estradiol, while other hormones showed contradictory results in relation to boar taint and endocrine fertility parameters.