Estimating the heritability of meat quality traits in Krškopolje pigs

The Krškopolje pig is the only autochthonous pig breed in Slovenia, characterized by high fat deposition, relative ly low carcass leanness, and high quality meat suitable for the production of high-grade meat products. Despite these attributes, genetic parameters related to meat quality traits have not been previously studied, although such data are essential for developing an effective breeding program for breed. To address this gap, phenotypic data from 409 Krškopolje pigs under 500 days were collected for meat quality traits, along with pedigree data and genotypic data (N=518). Variance components and heritability were estimated using AIREMLF90. The model included fixed effects of the farm of origin and age, alongside random animal effects for additive genetic variance.
Heritability estimates (±SE) derived solely from pedigree data were as follows: 0.39±0.15 for intramuscular fat content, 0.27±0.14 for backfat thickness, 0.42±0.15 for muscle L* CIE value, 0.55±0.16 for muscle a* CIE value, 0.25±0.14 for drip loss, and 0.54±0.16 for cooking loss. Incorporating single-step genomic best linear unbiased prediction increased heritability estimates (±SE) to 0.72±0.12, 0.63±0.15, 0.59±0.15, 0.62±0.13, 0.41±0.15, and 0.84±0.13 for intramuscular fat content, backfat thickness, muscle L* CIE value, muscle a* CIE value, drip loss, and cooking loss, respectively. Genetic correlations between meat quality traits suggested that selection for larger intramuscular fat content could decrease a* CIE value (-0.22), drip loss (-0.24) and cooking loss (-0.26). The findings highlight the potential for genetic selection to effectively enhance meat quality traits in local Krškopolje pig. Acknowledgements: Funding by Slovenian Agency of Research (grants P4-0133, Z4-60178, J4-3094) and project GEroNIMO (EU H2020 GA no. 101000236) are acknowledged. Key words: Krškopolje pig, genetic variance, breeding programme.