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Responses in residual feed intake in lines of Large White pigs selected for growth rate on restricted feeding (measured on ad libitum individual feeding)
Author(s) -
Nguyen N.H.,
McPhee C.P.,
Wade C.M.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of animal breeding and genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.689
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1439-0388
pISSN - 0931-2668
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0388.2005.00531.x
Subject(s) - residual feed intake , biology , zoology , growth rate , body weight , food consumption , food intake , feed conversion ratio , large white , food science , endocrinology , mathematics , geometry , agricultural economics , economics
Summary Residual feed intake (RFI) represents the deviation of the actual ad libitum food consumption of each animal from that predicted from combination of growth rate, backfat and metabolic body weight measurements. After 4 years of divergent selection of pigs in lines for either high or low postweaning growth rate on restricted feeding, the high line exhibited a significant reduction in RFI relative to the low line. This indicated, to some extents, a lower energy requirement for maintenance in the high than in the low line, possibly because of reduced physical activity of the animals. Estimates of genetical parameters showed that RFI was moderately heritable and those genetic correlations of RFI with carcass backfat and food conversion ratio were moderate to highly positive.