The future of pig genetics

Pork producers can look forward to even greater production efficiency, thanks to improved genetics. Jurgens Reynders of DanBred Africa spoke to Glennis Kriel about these gains.

- Jurgens Reynders

Over the past decade, the use of genomics in pig breeding has helped to accelerate genetic improvement and on-farm performance.

“Genetics companies, in general, have made great strides over the years by making use of performance testing to govern breeding decisions,” says Jurgens Reynders, managing director at DanBred Africa, based in Pretoria. “The combination of genomic selection with conventional selection strategies has significantly improved the effectiveness of selection, enabling much quicker gains. It has also made it possible to breed for new and otherwise difficult-to-breed traits, such as disease resistance.”

DanBred, a Danish company, claims to be the first to have used and implemented DNA testing, in the early 2000s, as a tool for increasing selection accuracy. The company today uses genomic selection on every male and female pig born on its 23 nucleus farms in Denmark, with more than 100 000 pigs tested annually.

“The technology has resulted in 30% more genetic gain than what we would have achieved by using traditional breeding and selection methods,” says Reynders.

While results will inevitably vary from one farm to another, improved genetics generally enable farmers to scale down on the number of sows in production. This is due to increased fertility, which means that fewer sows are needed to produce the same number of piglets. In addition, improved feed conversion in both sows and finishers, reduced mortalities, and improvements in growth rates and carcass grading all result in better returns.

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