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Genetic correlations between production and semen traits in pig

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2009

J. Wolf*
Affiliation:
Institute of Animal Science, P.O. Box 1, CZ 10401 Prague-Uhříněves, Czech Republic
*
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Abstract

Genetic correlations between production traits (average daily gain from birth till the end of the field test and ultrasonically predicted lean meat content at the end of the field test) and semen traits (semen volume, sperm concentration, motility, percentage of abnormal spermatozoa, total number of spermatozoa and number of functional spermatozoa) were estimated from a large dataset (44 500 observations for production traits and more than 150 000 ejaculates from 2077 boars). The boars belonged to the breeds Duroc, Piétrain and Large White or were crossbreds between them. All estimated genetic correlations were low (maximal absolute value 0.13). Therefore, selection on production traits is expected to have only low effects on semen traits.

Type
Full Paper
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2009

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