• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.411-418
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• 1992

Recently, onset of bacterial disease, especially infiltration of chronic respiratory diseases have been increasing at high rate. The main cause of these diseases are originated from inappropriate sanitary management and slow progress in introducing system and herd free system, which are the base of productivity improvement in bigger pig management, Methods for the prevention and removal of these diseases, are divided into four categories. The first category includes prevention and removal of infectious diseases by organizing strict animal quarantine, enforcing vaccination, and legal regulation and disposal at the time of outbreak. The second category includes improvement of production systems. This purpose can be achieved by discontinuing the open herd system, which brings on the invasion of foreign pathogens and replacing the system by the closed type of farm. To Continue eradication process step-wisely by performing the all-in all-out system at every pig pen or herd level is also effective for this purpose. The third category includes introduction of herd free system can be achieved by repopulating conventional pigs with SPF pigs. If these means are unrealizable from economic or technical viewpoint, medicated early weaning system is perfomed. This system consists of disinfection of pigsty at pre-postpartum stage, application of drugs to pregnant sows and newborn piglets in accordance with the medication program, and early weaning and rearing of newborn piglets in isolation. The fourth category is sanital leading by veterinarians, aimed to eliminating incentives for diseases through diagnoses. Their main activities include periodical monitoring and improvement leading on each responsible subject.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.1244-1251
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• 2015

A herd of Berkshire pigs was established in 2003 and subjected to selection without introduction of any genetic resources until 2007. The complete pedigree, including 410 boars and 916 sows, as well as the records from 5,845 pigs and 822 litters were used to investigate the results obtained from the selections. The index of selection for breeding values included days to 90 kg (D90kg), backfat thickness (BF) and number of piglets born alive (NBA). The average inbreeding coefficients of pigs were found to be 0.023, 0.008, 0.013, 0.025, 0.026, and 0.005 from 2003 to 2007, respectively. The genetic gains per year were 12.1 g, -0.04 mm, -3.13 days, and 0.181 head for average daily gain (ADG), BF, D90kg, and NBA, respectively. Breeding values of ADG, BF and D90kg were not significantly correlated with inbreeding coefficients of individuals, except for NBA (-0.21). The response per additional 1% of inbreeding was 0.0278 head reduction in NBA. The annual increase of inbreeding was 0.23% and the annual decrease in NBA due to inbreeding was 0.0064 head. This magnitude could be disregarded when compared with the annual gain in NBA (0.181 head). These results suggest that inbreeding and inbreeding depression on ordinary farms can be controlled with a proper breeding scheme and that breeding programs are economical and safe relative to the risks associated with importation of pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.363-367
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• 1998

This study has objectives of to estimate the genetic and phenotypic trend for growth in a closed herd of Landrace $\times$ desi crossbreds. The possibility of early selection of boars was also investigated in order to reduce generation interval and thus, to enhance response per year in selection programmes. The data originated from Livestock Production Research (Pigs), Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagar (UP), India - a unit of All India Coordinated research Project on Pigs (AICRP on Pigs). Data consisted of 891 crossbred piglets, progeny of 29 boars. The piglets were born in 132 parities of 72 sows between 8 years from 1987 to 1994. Records on weight at birth, at 2 weeks interval upto 8 weeks of age (Wl, W2, ${\cdots}\;{\cdots}$ W8) and at 16th week (W16) were used in this investigation. BLLTP estimates of the sires were computed. Breeding value of each sire was estimated as twice of sire and sire group solutions. Phenotypic trend was estimated as regression of weight performance on year. Genetic trend was computed by estimating regression of breeding value of sires on time. Average body weights ranged from 0.92 kg (W1) to 18.95 kg (W16) and showed a continuous increase over age. Heritabilities of the weight at 4th and 6th week were medium (0.29 and 0.14). Rest of the weights were highly heritable. The product moment and rank, both correlations were high between breeding value for W6 and W16 (0.68 and 0.70). This shows that sire selection for W6 can be successfully implemented in order to achieve sufficient genetic improvement in growth. Phenotypic trend was positive at all ages. The phenotypic regression coefficient ranged from 0.02 kg at birth to 0.40 kg at 16 weeks. Genetic trend was also positive. The regression coefficients of average breeding value of sires on time showed a range of 1.471 kg (0.021 to 1.492 kg) for different weights. These coefficients were significant and higher than their corresponding phenotypic regression coefficient.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.389-398
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• 2013

This study was conducted to investigate the genetic relationships among four reproductive traits. Data for this study were 7616 records from 1910 Landrace (L) and 10,454 records from 2283 Yorkshire (Y) in a closed nucleus swine herd. Traits considered on this study were gestation length (GL), total number of piglets born (TNB), wean to first service (WFS), and number of stillborn per litter (NSB). Heritabilities and genetic correlations were estimated by using the Bayesian inferences via Gibbs sampling in a four trait linear-threshold repeatability animal mixed model by designating NSB as a categorical trait in the L and Y purebred populations. Effects on the statistical model were considered for parity, contemporary group as fixed and service sire, permanent environmental, animal additive genetic effects as random. Estimates of heritability were 0.21, 0.23, 0.16, and 0.09 for GL, WFS, TNB, and NSB in the L population and 0.35, 0.16, 0.14 and 0.10 for corresponding traits in the Y population, respectively. Genetic correlation for GL was -0.59 and -0.28 with TNB and -0.58 and -0.17 with NSB in the L and Y populations, respectively. The NSB was positively correlated with TNB in the L and Y populations in genetic and environmental aspects. Therefore, the NSB should be taken into account in selecting sows for improving prolificacy of dam line breeding swine stock.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2004

The 490 and 380 performance records of Karan Fries and Karan Swiss cows developed through crossbreeding followed by inter-se mating were evaluated for production, reproduction performance and disposal rate. Duration of study (1982-92) was grouped into five periods (1982-83; 1984-85; 1986-87; 1988-89; 1990-92) and each year was divided into four seasons (Winter: Dec.-Jan.; Spring: Feb.-March; Summer: April-June; Rainy: July-Sept.; Autumn: Oct.-Nov). Data were also classified according to sire and level of inbreeding. The least squares means of FLY (first lactation yield -305 days), FLL (first lactation length), FSP (first service period), FDP (first dry period), FCI (first calving interval ), MY/FLL (milk yield per day of first lactation length), MY/FCI (milk yield per day of first calving interval), EBV (expected breeding value) and EBE (expected breeding efficiency) were $3,173{\pm}82$ kg, $34611{\pm}$days, $143{\pm}11$ days, $75{\pm}6$ days, $423{\pm}11$ days, $10.6{\pm}0.2$ kg, $8.9{\pm}0.2$ kg, $3,380{\pm}26$ kg, and $88.2{\pm}1.3$% respectively in Karan Fries. Corresponding estimates in Karan Swiss cows were $2,616{\pm}82$ kg, $328{\pm}8$ days, $148{\pm}12$ days, $103{\pm}9$ days, $435{\pm}13$ days, $8.9{\pm}0.2$ kg, $7.2{\pm}0.3$ kg, $2,924{\pm38}$ kg and $86.0{\pm}3.8$% respectively. The effect of sire was significant on FLY, MY/FLL, MY/FCI and EBV in both the herd (p<0.01). The 10 and 15% sires showed superiority (FLY) over herd average of 11 and 7% in Karan Fries and 32 and 21% in Karan Swiss cattle respectively. Inbreeding has adversely and significantly (p<0.05) affected the FLY, MY/FLL, MY/FCI and survivability of Karan Fries females; FDP and disposal through culling of Karan Swiss heifers. The Karan Fries heifers with inbreeding above 12.5% performed 16% lower FLY to herd average. The effect of season of calving was significant on FLL, FSP and FCI (p<0.05) in Karan Fries. Summer calvers ($361{\pm}12$) were have higher lactation length and autumn calvers ($329{\pm}14$) had minimum. Period of calving significantly influenced the FSP, FCI, MY/FLL and MY/FCI in Karan Fries and FLY, MY/FLL and MY/FCI in Karan Swiss. Production efficiency traits in Karan Fries herd witnessed higher yield in the last two periods whereas, Karan Swiss heifers showed fluctuating performance. The findings suggested judicious use of available genetic variability, keeping of inbreeding under safer level and managemental interventions for the consistent improvement of both herds.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.1369-1377
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• 2020

Objective: The main objectives of the present study were to assess the genetic diversity, population structure and to appraise the efficiency of ongoing selective breeding program in the closed nucleus herd of Nellore sheep through pedigree analysis. Methods: Information utilized in the study was collected from the pedigree records of Livestock Research Station, Palamaner during the period from 1989 to 2016. Genealogical parameters like generation interval, pedigree completeness, inbreeding level, average relatedness among the animals and genetic conservation index were estimated based on gene origin probabilities. Lambs born during 2012 and 2016 were considered as reference population. Two animal models either with the use of F_i or ΔF_i as linear co-variables were evaluated to know the effects of inbreeding on the growth traits of Nellore sheep. Results: Average generation interval and realized effective population size for the reference cohort were estimated as 3.38±0.10 and 91.56±1.58, respectively and the average inbreeding coefficient for reference population was 3.32%. Similarly, the effective number of founders, ancestors and founder genome equivalent of the reference population were observed as 47, 37, and 22.48, respectively. Fifty per cent of the genetic variability was explained by 14 influential ancestors in the reference cohort. The ratio f_e/f_a obtained in the study was 1.21, which is an indicator of bottlenecks in the population. The number of equivalent generations obtained in the study was 4.23 and this estimate suggested the fair depth of the pedigree. Conclusion: Study suggested that the population had decent levels of genetic diversity and a non-significant influence of inbreeding coefficient on growth traits of Nellore lambs. However, small portion of genetic diversity was lost due to a disproportionate contribution of founders and bottlenecks. Hence, breeding strategies which improve the genetic gain, widens the selection process and with optimum levels of inbreeding are recommended for the herd.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.1508-1516
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• 2023

Objective: To carry out a comprehensive production planning of the existing Rongchang pig population from both environmental and genetic aspects, and to establish a closed population with stable genetic diversity and strict pathogen control, it is necessary to fully understand the genetic background of the population. Methods: We genotyped 54 specific pathogen free (SPF) Rongchang pigs using the Zhongxin-1 Porcine Breeding Array PLUS, calculated their genetic diversity parameters and constructed their families. In addition, we also counted the runs of homozygosity (ROH) of each individual and calculated the value of inbreeding coefficient based on ROH for each individual. Results: Firstly, the results of genetic diversity analysis showed that the effective population size (N_e) of this population was 3.2, proportion of polymorphic markers (P_N) was 0.515, desired heterozygosity (H_e) and observed heterozygosity (H_o) were 0.315 and 0.335. H_o was higher than H_e, indicating that the heterozygosity of all the selected loci was high. Secondly, combining the results of genomic relatedness analysis and cluster analysis, it was found that the existing Rongchang pig population could be divided into four families. Finally, we also counted the ROH of each individual and calculated the inbreeding coefficient value accordingly, whose mean value was 0.09. Conclusion: Due to the limitation of population size and other factors, the genetic diversity of this Rongchang pig population is low. The results of this study can provide basic data to support the development of Rongchang pig breeding program, the establishment of SPF Rongchang pig closed herd and its experimental utilization.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.322-332
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• 2013

This study was conducted to understand the control mechanism of Sika deer (Cervus nippon taiouanus) populations which are adapted to the natural forest areas and the semi-natural forest areas of Korea. We monitored and analyzed the behaviour patterns and habitat characteristics of Sika deers. After we released 12 Sika deers (male 3, female 9) each at the two study areas in and around Seoul under the approval of Korean government, we monitored them through our survey researchers' naked eyes from May 2011 to January 2012. We discriminated their habitat patterns to 4 major places - eating food place, drinking water place, daytime rest place, and nighttime rest place. Our results showed that Sika deer preferred the open grassland habitats for feeding and resting in daytime but the closed bushland for their protection and sleep. We also found the recommended sex ratio of adult male to female in a herd was 1 : 4~9 for breeding and they had few cubs in a herd. The average amount of food for 1 adult deer was 391.62 kg of fresh grasses and 286.90 kg of hay per year. Our results suggest that the amount of drinking water required for a deer when grazed on grasses during spring and summer seasons is 256.8 L and when a deer feeds on dry food during autumn and winter seasons, 209.8 L of water is required. From these results, we observe that the amount of drinking water was affected substantially by the moisture content of their food. This observational study must be very valuable for land managers to judge the number of deers that should be released in natural areas without high risk and to ascertain the sex ratio of large mammals including Sika deer. Therefore, we conclude that this population control mechanism study consists of efficient basic data and their values must be very effective for various purposes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.151-162
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• 2012

Analysis for back fat thickness (BFAT) and daily body weight gains from birth to the end of a performance test were conducted to find an optimal method for estimation of weaning age effects and to ascertain impacts of weaning age on the growth performance of purebred Berkshire pigs from a closed population in Korea. Individual body weights were measured at birth (B), at weaning (W: mean, 22.9 d), at the beginning of the performance test (P: mean, 72.7 d), and at the end of the performance test (T: mean, 152.4 d). Further, the average daily gains in body weight (ADG) of 3,713 pigs were analyzed for the following periods: B to W (DGBW), W to P (DGWP), P to T (DGPT), B to P (DGBP), B to T (DGBT), and W to T (DGWT). Weaning ages ranged from 17 to 34 d, and were treated as fixed (WF), random with (WC) and random without (WU) consideration of an empirical relationship between weaning ages in the models. WF and WC produced the lowest AIC (Akaike Information Criterion) and least fractions of error variance components in multi-traits analysis, respectively. The fractions of variances due to diverse weaning age and the weaning age correlations among ADGs of different stages (when no overlapping allowed) by WC ranged from 0.09 to 0.35 and from -0.03 to 0.44, respectively. The maximum weaning age effects and optimal back fat thicknesses were attained at weaning ages of 27 to 32 d. With the exception of DGBW, the effects of weaning age on the ADGs increased (ranging from 1.50 g/d to 7.14 g/d) with increased weaning age. In addition, BFAT was reduced by 0.106 mm per increased day in weaning age. In conclusion, WC produced reasonable weaning age correlations, and improved the fitness of the model. Weaning age was one of crucial factors (comparable with heritability) influencing growth performance in Berkshire pigs. Further, these studies suggest that increasing weaning age up to 32 d can be an effective management strategy to improve growth performance. However, additional investigations of the costs and losses related to extension of the suckling period and on the extended range of weaning age are necessary to determine the productivity and safety of this practice in a commercial herd and production system.