2B-106: Simple tests for immune responsiveness of sires and the association with piglet mortality

The aim of this project was to develop a testing procedure to obtain immune competence phenotypes for mature boars, and to subsequently investigate if sire variation in immune competence was reflected by differences in the survival of their offspring (pre- and post- weaning), and/or potentially other performance attributes. In this study we developed a commercially practical procedure to obtain immune competence phenotypes for mature boars. Boars were allocated into immune competence groups based on their relative rankings for humoral immunity (antibody production) and cell-mediated immunity (delayed-type hypersensitivity skin test). Immune grouping of boars was significantly (p=0.004) associated with estimated breeding values for pre-weaning survival of piglets. This suggests that variation in immune competence of sires was transmitted to offspring, with impact on survival outcomes for piglets. There was no evidence for antagonistic associations between immune competence grouping of boars and genetic merit for other economically important traits.