Genetic determination of individual birth weight and its association with sow productivity traits using Bayesian analyses

Genetic association between individual birth weight (IBW) and litter birth weight (LBW) was analyzed on records of 14,950 individual pigs born alive between 1988 and 1994 at the pig breeding farm of the University of Kiel. Dams were from three purebred lines (German Landrace, German Edelschwein, and Large White) and their crosses. Phenotypically, preweaning mortality of pigs decreased substantially from 40% for pigs with < or = 1 kg weight to less than 7% for pigs with > 1.6 kg. For these low to high birth weight categories, preweaning growth (d 21 of age) and early postweaning growth (weaning to 25 kg) increased by more than 28 and 8% per day, respectively. Bayesian analysis was performed based on direct-maternal effects models for IBW and multiple-trait direct effects models for number of pigs born in total (NOBT) and alive (NOBA) and LBW. Bayesian posterior means for direct and maternal heritability and litter proportion of variance in IBW were .09, .26, and .18, respectively. After adjustment for NOBT, these changed to .08, .22, and .09, respectively. Adjustment for NOBT reduced the direct and maternal genetic correlation from -.41 to -.22. For these direct-maternal correlations, the 95% highest posterior density intervals were -.75 to -.07, and -.58 to .17 before and after adjustment for NOBT. Adjustment for NOBT was found to be necessary to obtain unbiased estimates of genetic effects for IBW. The relationship between IBW and NOBT, and thus the adjustment, was linear with a decrease in IBW of 44 g per additionally born pig. For litter traits, direct heritabilities were .10, .08, and .08 for NOBT, NOBA, and LBW, respectively. After adjustment of LBW for NOBA the heritability changed to .43. Expected variance components for LBW derived from estimates of IBW revealed that genetic and environmental covariances between full-sibs and variation in litter size resulted in the large deviation of maternal heritability for IBW and its equivalent estimate for LBW. These covariances among full-sibs could not be estimated if only LBW were recorded. Therefore, selection for increased IBW is recommended, with the opportunity to improve both direct and maternal genetic effects of birth weight of pigs and, thus, their vitality and pre- and postnatal growth.