Estimation of genetic parameters for pork belly traits

Lee, Seung-Hoon; Lee, Sang-Hoon; Park, Hee-Bok; Kim, Jun Mo

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Anim Biosci > Accepted Articles

Article

https://doi.org/10.5713/ab.22.0391 [Accepted] Published online February 27, 2023.

Estimation of genetic parameters for pork belly traits

Seung-Hoon Lee^1,2

, Sang-Hoon Lee³

, Hee-Bok Park^4,*

, Jun Mo Kim^1,*

¹Department of Animal Science and Technology, Chung-Ang University, Anseong, Gyeonggi-do 17546, Korea
²Department of Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea
³Division of Pediatric General and Thoracic Surgery, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45229, USA
⁴Department of Animal Resources, Kongju National University, Yesan 32439, Korea

Correspondence: Hee-Bok Park,Email: heebokpark@kongju.ac.kr
Jun Mo Kim, Tel: +82-31-675-3263, Fax: +82-31-675-3108, Email: junmokim@cau.ac.kr

Received: 11 October 2022 • Revised: 5 December 2022 • Accepted: 24 February 2023

Abstract

Objective
Pork belly is a cut of meat with high worldwide demand. However, although the belly is comprised of multiple muscles and fat, unlike the loin muscle, research on their genetic parameters has yet to focus on a representative cut. To use swine breeding, it is necessary to estimate heritability against pork belly traits. Moreover, to identify genetic relationship among the traditional carcass and meat quality traits, estimating genetic correlations is needed. This study sought to estimate the heritability of the carcass, belly, and their component traits, as well as the genetic correlations among them, to confirm whether these traits can be improved.
Methods
A total of 543 Yorkshire pigs (406 castrated males and 137 females) from 49 sires and 244 dam were used in this study. To estimate genetic parameters, a total of 12 traits such as lean meat production ability, meat quality and pork belly traits were chosen. The heritabilities were estimated by using GEMMA software. The statistical model was selected that farm, carcass weight, sex and slaughter season as a fixed effect. In addition, its genetic parameters were calculated via MTG2 software.
Results
The heritability estimates for the 7th belly slice along the whole plate and its components were low to moderate (0.07 ± 0.07 to 0.33 ± 0.07). Moreover, the genetic correlations among the carcass and belly traits were moderate to high (0.28 ± 0.20 to 0.99 ± 0.31). Particularly, the rectus abdominis muscle exhibited a high absolute genetic correlation with the belly and meat quality (0.73 ± 52 to 0.93 ± 0.43).
Conclusion
A moderate to high correlation coefficient could be bred based on the genetic parameters. The belly could be genetically improved to contain a larger proportion of muscle regardless of lean meat production ability.

Keywords: Belly Component; Genetic Correlation; Genetic Parameter; Heritability; Pig; Pork Belly