Genotype differences for meat and eating quality traits in Australian pig populations

Genotypic differences for production and meat or eating quality traits have been reported for pig populations evaluated in the United States (Johnson and Goodwin 1995), United Kingdom (MLC 1989), and through a range of end-product comparison tests, particularly in EU countries. No genotype comparisons have been published in Australia, where private companies operate most pig breeding programs. Further, few individual breeders have adequate resources to enable accurate comparisons between progeny groups sired by boars from different breeds, particularly for carcase traits. As a consequence, Australian pig breeders have limited knowledge as to the relative merit of individual sires or sire breeds, for meat and eating quality traits in particular. Correspondingly, commercial producers have little opportunity to exert an informed choice of sire selection to improve carcase yield or meat quality, even at the between 'breed' level. The primary objective of this study was to quantify differences in carcase, meat and eating quality traits for some sire genotypes available to commercial producers in Australia.