Microbiability of meat quality and carcass composition traits in swine
Abstract BackgroundSwine gut microbiome constitutes a portion of the whole genome and has potential to affect different phenotypes. More recently, research is more directed towards association of gut microbiome and different traits in swine. However, the contribution of microbial composition to the phenotypic variation of meat quality and carcass composition traits in pigs has not been explored yet. The objectives of this study are to estimate the microbiabilities for different meat quality and carcass composition traits; to investigate the impact of intestinal microbiome on heritability estimates; to estimate the correlation between microbial diversity and meat quality and carcass composition traits; and to estimate the microbial correlation between the meat quality and carcass composition traits in a commercial swine population.ResultsThe contribution of the microbiome to carcass composition and meat quality traits was prominent although it varied over time, increasing from weaning to off test for most traits. Microbiability estimates of carcass composition traits were greater than that of meat quality traits. Among all of the traits analyzed, belly weight had higher microbiability estimate (0.29 ± 0.04). Adding microbiome information did not affect the estimates of genomic heritability of meat quality traits but affected the estimates of carcass composition traits. Fat depth had greater decrease (10%) in genomic heritability. High microbial correlations were found among several traits. This suggested that genomic correlation was partially contributed by genetic similarity of microbiome composition.ConclusionsResults indicate that better understanding of microbial composition could aid the improvement of complex traits, particularly the carcass composition traits in swine by inclusion of microbiome information in the genetic evaluation process.