Genetic Parameters for Different Measures of Feed Efficiency and Their Relationship to Production Traits in Three Purebred Pigs

Residual feed intake (RFI) gained attention as a potential alternative to the feed conversion ratio (FCR). Thus, this study aimed to estimate genetic parameters for different feed efficiency (FE) traits (FCR, RFI1 to RFI5) and their genetic correlation to on-test daily weight gain (ADG), backfat (BFT), loin muscle area (LMA), lean percentage (LP), and total feed intake (FI) for 603 Male Duroc (DD), 295 Landrace (LL), and 341 Yorkshire (YY). The common spatial pen effect was also estimated in these traits. Five RFI measures were estimated by regressing daily feed intake on initial testing age (ITA), initial testing weight (IBW), and ADG for RFI1; other models were the same as RFI1 except for additional BFT for RFI2; LMA for RFI3; BFT and LMA for RFI4; BFT, LMA, and average metabolic body weight (AMBW) instead of IBW for RFI5. Genetic parameters estimated using two animal models and the REML method showed moderate heritability for FCR in all breeds (0.22 and 0.28 for DD, 0.31 and 0.39 for LL, 0.17 and 0.22 for YY), low heritability for the majority of RFI measures in DD (0.15 to 0.23) and YY (0.14 to 0.20) and moderate heritability for all RFI measures in LL (0.31 to 0.34). Pen variance explained 7% to 22% for FE and 0% to 9% for production traits' phenotypic variance. The genetic correlation revealed that selection against less complex RFI1 in DD and LL and RFI2 in YY would bring the most advantageous reduction to FI (0.71 for DD, 0.49 for LL, 0.43 YY) without affecting ADG in all breeds (0.06 for DD, -0.11 for LL, 0.05 for YY), decrease in BFT, and increase in LP in DD (0.51 in BFT, -0.77 in LP) and LL (0.45 in BFT, -0.83 in LP). Therefore, inclusion of these breed-specific RFI measures in the future selection criteria would help improve feed efficiency in the swine industry.

Automated summary

The study estimated genetic parameters for different feed efficiency traits and found that RFI had low heritability in DD and YY, and moderate heritability in LL. Pen variance had a significant contribution to FE, and genetic correlation indicated that selecting against less complex RFI in DD and LL, as well as RFI2 in YY, could reduce feed intake without affecting daily weight gain, decrease backfat, and increase lean percentage.