Study on the Development of Paternal Selection Indices for the Improvement of Meat Production Ability in Korean Native Pigs

Rising living standards and an increasing awareness of the health risks of a diet high in saturated fats have led to strong consumer discrimination against animal fats. Additionally the surplusses of animal products in Europe suggest that more attention should be paid to the inputs in animal production, rather than solely increasing output. Improving the efficiency of lean meat production is therefore an important consideration in all meat animal systems. In 1976 Fowler, Bichard and Pease proposed the ‘biological indices’ lean growth rate and lean food conversion as selection criteria in pigs. These traits may be estimated as the product of growth rate (GR) or food conversion efficiency (FCE), and in vivo estimates of killing out and carcass lean proportions. However, in cattle and sheep the relatively low coefficient of variation of estimated killing out and of lean proportions, means that the biological indices are frequently dominated by GR and FCE. In such cases there may be little difference in response from selection solely on GR and FCE (Simm, 1983). The objective of the present study was to derive economic selection indices for terminal sire beef breeds, which might give appropriate economic weighting to the components of efficient lean meat production.

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Selection indices for terminal sires to improve lean meat production from sheep in the United Kingdom

Animal Science ◽

10.1017/s0003356100036667 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 45 (1) ◽

pp. 87-96 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

A. C. Parratt ◽

G. Simm

Keyword(s):

Growth Rate ◽

Carcass Composition ◽

Breeding Value ◽

Meat Production ◽

Lean Meat ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Ct Measurements ◽

Selection Indices ◽

Efficiency Of Selection ◽

Terminal Sire

AbstractSelection indices to improve lean meat production of terminal sire breeds of sheep were derived. An aggregate breeding value which comprised growth rate, killing-out proportion and carcass lean proportion was examined. Selection criteria included growth rate and ultrasonic or X-ray computer tomography (CT) estimates of carcass composition. Correlations betwen the index and the aggregate breeding value were about 0·38 for indices using ultrasonic fat measurements, and about 0·40 for those using CT measurements. Dropping ultrasonic or CT measurements from the indices reduced the correlations with the aggregate breeding value by only about 0·01 and 002 respectively, indicating that selection on growth rate alone under current economic conditions was highly efficient. Changes in economic weights, and genetic parameters had little effect on the efficiency of selection. The total national discounted value of returns from a single round of selection on the indices was expected to be between £6 and £30·5 million, depending on penetration rates of improved stock, the breeding scheme used, and with a time horizon of 20 years.

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Selection indices to improve the efficiency of lean meat production in cattle

Animal Science ◽

10.1017/s000335610001789x ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 42 (2) ◽

pp. 183-193 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

G. Simm ◽

C. Smith ◽

J. H. D. Prescott

Keyword(s):

Growth Rate ◽

Birth Weight ◽

Conversion Efficiency ◽

Breeding Value ◽

Meat Production ◽

Food Conversion ◽

Lean Meat ◽

Selection Indices ◽

Efficiency Of Selection ◽

Food Conversion Efficiency

ABSTRACTSelection indices to improve the efficiency of lean meat production in cattle were derived with an aggregate breeding value which comprised growth rate, food conversion efficiency, killing-out proportion and carcass lean proportion. Index measurements were growth rate, food conversion efficiency and ultrasonic fat area. Relative economic values of traits in the aggregate breeding value were calculated for an 18/20-month beef system, assuming a fixed national output of lean meat. Literature estimates of phenotypic and genetic parameters were used. Two indices were derived, one with a complete restriction on genetic changes in birth weight, and the other without restriction. Correlations between the index and the aggregate breeding value were 0·53 for the restricted index, and 0·57 for the unrestricted index. The maximum proportional reduction in expected economic response, due to complete restriction of birth weight was about 0·08. Selection on either index would actually lead to a slight decrease in carcass lean proportion, but this was less than the decrease expected from selection solely on growth rate. Correlations between the indices and the aggregate breeding value (measuring the accuracy of selection) fell by only about 0·01 when ultrasonic measurements were omitted from the index, but fell by about 0·09 when food conversion efficiency was omitted. Sensitivity of the indices to changes in parameters was also examined. With proportional changes of ±0·5 in individual economic weights, or absolute changes of ±0·2 in genetic correlations or −0·2 in heritabilities, the efficiency of selection ranged from 0·93 to 1·00.

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