%0 Journal Article
%T Heritability of longevity in Large White and Landrace sows using continuous time and grouped data models
%A G¨¢bor M¨¦sz¨¢ros
%A Judit P¨¢los
%A Vincent Ducrocq
%A Johann S£¿lkner
%J Genetics Selection Evolution
%D 2010
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1297-9686-42-13
%X The productive life length of 12319 Large White and 9833 Landrace sows was analyzed with continuous scale and grouped data models. Random effect of herd*year, fixed effects of interaction between parity and relative number of piglets, age at first farrowing and annual herd size change were included in the analysis. The genetic component was estimated from sire, sire-maternal grandsire, sire-dam, sire-maternal grandsire and animal models, and the heritabilities computed for each model type in both breeds.If age at first farrowing was under 43 weeks or above 60 weeks, the risk of culling sows increased. An interaction between parity and relative litter size was observed, expressed by limited culling during first parity and severe risk increase of culling sows having small litters later in life. In the Landrace breed, heritabilities ranged between 0.05 and 0.08 (s.e. 0.014-0.020) for the continuous and between 0.07 and 0.11 (s.e. 0.016-0.023) for the grouped data models, and in the Large White breed, they ranged between 0.08 and 0.14 (s.e. 0.012-0.026) for the continuous and between 0.08 and 0.13 (s.e. 0.012-0.025) for the grouped data models.Heritabilities for length of productive life were similar with continuous time and grouped data models in both breeds. Based on these results and because grouped data models better reflect the economical needs in meat animals, we conclude that grouped data models are more appropriate in pig.Length of productive life is important from economical, herd-health and animal welfare points of view in sustainable animal production. Intensive selection on production and reproduction traits without considering functional and exterior traits can lead to decreased longevity [1,2]. In Austria, exterior traits are taken in account during selection of replacement gilts before the first insemination. At this stage only a negative selection is carried out, without any official recording for later use. However, data on length of productive life and
%U http://www.gsejournal.org/content/42/1/13