Consumer demands regarding food of animal origin
are of growing importance. As a consequence, traits referring to meat quality are of increasing relevance
for the pork industry. Therefore, the objective of this study is to estimate genetic parameters
for carcass and meat quality traits that are
of practical relevance in combination with information
from current or intended classification systems. It was found that selection for growth rate will have adverse consequences for meat quality based on
the high unfavorable correlations found between average
daily gain and most quality traits considered. Furthermore,
selection for growth rate is negatively correlated
with (sub)primal cut yield and will therefore not
automatically lead to increased cut weights. However,
selection towards increased carcass value by increasing
(sub)primal weights with improved quality will
clearly be feasible based on the correlations that were
found between most meat quality traits and (sub)primal
cuts.