Increasing uniformity has important economic implications for pork production and rightly receives a lot of attention. On the other hand, a certain amount of variability is useful for different production environments and different market needs. Variability can also create opportunities for improvement if the reason for better performance or specific quality can be identified and repeated. Variability in pigs has both genetic and non-genetic sources. These include nutrition, disease challenges, production system, and social interactions to name a few. Genetics is certainly one important source of variability among them. The overall differences among breeds or lines are an important source of genetic variability. Differences among the many breeds and lines available can be potentially very large. One reason for differences is that the foundation stock may have had some unique characteristics, such as maternal abilities or pork quality. However, a breed may be exceptional for one trait such as large litters, but not be able to meet the requirements for other traits such as carcass quality or feed efficiency. Genetic selection is another, perhaps more important reason for breed and line differences. The differences will depend firstly on the selection objectives, which determine the direction of genetic changes for specific traits, and secondly on the effectiveness of the selection program which determines the magnitude of the changes. Often the differences between sires of the same breed can be larger than differences between two different breeds. Advances in molecular genetics allow us to more precisely evaluate and control genetic variability. The Halothane gene and the RN gene are two examples of individual genes that have large effects on pork quality. Eliminating the adverse form of these genes enhances both the quality and uniformity of pork. A more recently available discovery is a test for the IGF2 gene. This gene has been shown to control a large amount of variability in carcass lean and sow productivity. Sires that carry only the lean form of the gene will produce leaner and substantially more uniform market hogs. Similarly, maternal line sires that carry only the fatter form of the gene will produce gilts that are substantially more uniform for body condition. Other genes are being discovered that could have a large influence on various traits, such as defects, intramuscular fat levels, longevity and resistance to disease. New tests for these genes will allow more precise control of genetics and production of more uniform market hogs. Genetic evaluations based on genetic differences between individuals provide a tool for producers to gain control over genetic choices. These choices can enhance herd performance levels and also move performance in a direction that matches the needs of each producer. The genetic choices made by producers can and do have a large impact on both herd performance and variability. Unique attributes of the foundation stock of a breed or line may be an important consideration. However, it is also important to consider the selection objectives that have been followed and the total amount of genetic change that has been made for traits of interest. Genetic evaluations of individual pigs, especially AI sires, offer new opportunities for producers to fine-tune the use of genetics for their own needs. These opportunities are increasing with the recent discoveries of tests for important genes, and will become even larger as more gene tests are available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Increasing uniformity has important economic implications for pork production and rightly receives a lot of attention. On the other hand, a certain amount of variability is useful for different production environments and different market needs. Variability can also create opportunities for improvement if the reason for better performance or specific quality can be identified and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[930],"tags":[8882,10033,13816,6311,2471,2349,7807,9290,1972,231,6312,23694,60,25122,527,4441,2851,6904,46,1062,6313,3804,2359,23161,502,20007,105,3322,14804,20792,2771,6314,818,6559,10858,6315,10859,14784,79,3465,63,14,1635,33,16262,1324,25220,4732,183,796,17743,27282,1498,2351,5122,95,6316,20912,104,20911,4874,1579,18011,1300,6053,25219,2446,6317],"class_list":["post-4183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-production","tag-al","tag-arc","tag-ass","tag-blup","tag-body-condition","tag-breed","tag-breeds","tag-carr","tag-condition","tag-cover","tag-differences","tag-dir","tag-disease","tag-eet","tag-efficiency","tag-environments","tag-fat","tag-fee","tag-feed","tag-feed-efficiency","tag-genes","tag-genetic","tag-genetic-changes","tag-genetic-sources-of-swine","tag-genetics","tag-gh","tag-gilt","tag-gilts","tag-hal","tag-influence","tag-iron","tag-line","tag-litter","tag-longevity","tag-mark","tag-molecular","tag-nat","tag-ness","tag-nutrition","tag-pea","tag-performance","tag-pig","tag-pig-production","tag-pigs","tag-pl","tag-pork","tag-pork-defects","tag-pork-production","tag-pork-quality","tag-prediction","tag-prod","tag-production","tag-productivity","tag-progeny","tag-program","tag-quality","tag-sires","tag-some","tag-sow","tag-t","tag-tan","tag-test","tag-tot","tag-uniformity","tag-use","tag-value-of-pork-defects","tag-variability","tag-variations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}