Abstract:

The specialized dam line with high farrowing rate of Shanxi White pig is a synthetic line produced by crossing Mashen pig, Taihu pig (female parents) with Landrace (male parent) and selecting by means of combining the marker assisted selection with systematic breeding from generation to generation for seven years. The reproductive performance of sows from the fourth generation was better than those of sows from any other generations on the basis of the analysis results on reproductive performance for sows from all generations. Total number born, number born alive and litter size at weaning on 28 days at first parity of sows from the fourth generation were 10.64, 9.85 and 9.36 of piglets, respectively, and with the weaning rate of 95.03%. The average body weight at birth and 28-day litter weight at weaning of this generation were 1.42 kg and 62.36 kg, respectively. Comparing to the reproductive performance of the base population, the significant improvements for reproductive traits with the exception of number born alive of this dam line have been obtained by the successive selection for generations. The body weight uniformity of piglets at birth and weaning was improved as well with the systematic breeding for generations. This line is an excellent dam line in pig production due to its good reproductive performance.

Key words: specialized dam line with high farrowing rate of Shanxi White pig; reproductive performance; marker assisted selection; systematic breeding