Relations génétiques entre caractères relatifs au développement sexuel, à l’odeur de la viande, à l’état inflammatoire et à l’agressivité chez le porc mâle entier

Séverine Parois (1) , Armelle Prunier (1) , Marie-José Mercat (2) , Nelly Muller (3) , Elodie Merlot (1) , Catherine Larzul (4)

1 PEGASE - Physiologie, Environnement et Génétique pour l'Animal et les Systèmes d'Elevage [Rennes]
2 IFIP - Institut du Porc
3 Unité expérimentale de testage de porcs
4 GABI - Génétique Animale et Biologie Intégrative

Breeding intact boars is a promising alternative to the surgical castration of piglets. Genetic selection should make it possible to solve problems due to boar taint and aggressiveness. About 1600 Pietrain type (purebred) or Pietrain x Large White type (crossbred) boars were raised in a testing station. Blood samples were collected for measuring two sex hormones (testosterone, estradiol), and indicators of the inflammatory status (C‐reactive protein: CRP, Pig Major Acute‐Phase Protein: pigMAP, blood formula). Animals were slaughtered nine days later, measured for boar taint compounds (androstenone, skatole) and skin lesions on carcass, an indicator of aggressiveness. For both genetic types, heritability was moderate for sex hormones (from 0.17 to 0.29) and skatole (purebred: 0.24, crossbred: 0.37), and high for androstenone (0.63 and 0.70). Genetic correlations between sex hormones and boar taint compounds were moderate to high (from 0.31 to 0.95). Heritability was moderate for CRP (0.24 and 0.46) and very low for pigMAP (0.06 and 0.05). Numbers of leucocytes had moderate to high heritabilities according to the genetic type (0.21 and 0.52). Heritability of skin lesions was moderate for both genetic types (0.31). Genetic correlations were negative between sex hormones and inflammatory measures (from ‐0.46 to ‐0.05), positive between testosterone and number of lesions (0.43 and 0.53), and low between androstenone and lesions (‐0.06 and ‐0.17). Therefore, it would be possible to select boars on their concentration in plasma sex hormones to decrease boar taint and aggressiveness, without important consequences on the inflammatory system.

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Séverine Parois, Armelle Prunier, Marie-José Mercat, Nelly Muller, Elodie Merlot, et al.. Relations génétiques entre caractères relatifs au développement sexuel, à l’odeur de la viande, à l’état inflammatoire et à l’agressivité chez le porc mâle entier. 47. Journées de la recherche porcine, Feb 2015, Paris, France. IFIP - Institut du Porc, Journées de la Recherche Porcine en France, 2015, Journées de la Recherche Porcine. ⟨hal-01194073⟩