Relationships between adipose tissue characteristics of newborn pigs and subsequent performance: II. Carcass traits at 95 and 145 kilograms live weight

Backfat thickness, carcass length, area of M. longissimus and carcass composition were determined for 253 Large White barrows and gilts to examine the genetic influence on the main characteristics of the carcass and the correlation of these traits with body measurements and fat characteristics at 8 d of age. Pigs were born to 32 sows mated to the same boar. At the age of 8 d, weight, body length and backfat thickness and cellularity were measured. Pigs were slaughtered at 95 and 145 kg live weight. Heritability and genetic correlations were estimated with dam component of variance. Higher adiposity of carcasses was noted for barrows than for gilts and for those animals slaughtered at the heavier vs at the lighter weight. High h2 values were observed for carcass length (.89 +/- .29), area of the M. longissimus (.67 +/- .26) and backfat thickness at the gluteus medius (.77 +/- .28). Percentage of commercial cuts also had high heritabilities. Phenotypic and genetic correlations between the characteristics at 8 d and backfat thickness, carcass length and M. longissimus area at slaughter were not statistically significant. However, significant phenotypic correlations were found between cellularity of the outer and inner layers at 8 d and percentage of major cuts (e.g., rp = .27 with total fat cuts); cellularity of the outer layer at 8 d also was correlated genetically with carcass composition (e.g., rg = .50 +/- .19 with total fat cuts). Genetic predisposition toward intensive fat deposition was more clearly predicted by cellularity than by thickness of adipose tissue in newborn pigs.