Deposition rates and accretion patterns of intramuscular fat, loin muscle area, and backfat of Duroc pigs sired by boars from two time periods

A study was conducted to evaluate differences in performance and in carcass composition and tissue deposition rates between purebred Duroc pigs sired by boars currently available and those sired by boars from the mid-1980s. Two lines were developed by randomly allocating littermate and half-sib pairs of females to matings by current time period (CTP) or old time period (OTP) boars. Pigs from 2 replications were placed on test at a group mean BW of 63.5 kg. Serial ultrasonic measurements of the 10th-rib LM area (LMA), off-midline backfat (BF10), and intramuscular fat percentage (IMF) were collected every 2 wk in the first replication and used to assess deposition rate differences. Off-test ultrasonic LMA, BF10, and IMF measurements from a total of 557 pigs from 23 CTP sires and 232 pigs from 15 OTP sires across 2 replications and at a mean BW of 109 kg were evaluated. All available barrows and randomly selected gilts (n = 277) were sent to a commercial abattoir, and carcass measurements of 10th-rib backfat, last-rib backfat, last lumbar backfat, and LMA were collected. Analysis of serial backfat measurements revealed a linear relationship between back-fat and BW between 73 and 118 kg for pigs from both time periods. Pigs sired by OTP boars deposited more backfat (P < 0.05) at a faster rate than pigs sired by CTP boars over the entire test period. A curvilinear cumulative tissue deposition pattern was revealed for ultrasonically estimated LMA and IMF within both time periods. Significant linear and quadratic regression coefficient differences between lines indicated that pigs sired by CTP boars deposited more LMA and less IMF per kilogram of BW gain than pigs sired by OTP boars. Pigs sired by CTP boars had more LMA and less BF10 (P < 0.05), whereas pigs sired by OTP boars had more IMF (P = 0.04). Carcass evaluation revealed more (P < 0.01) carcass measurements of LMA and less (P < 0.05) carcass measurements of 10th-rib backfat, carcass measurements of last-rib backfat, and carcass measurements of last lumbar backfat for pigs sired by CTP boars. No difference (P > 0.05) between the time periods was found for ADG over the entire test period. Results from this study illustrate that significant progress in carcass composition has been realized within the Duroc breed since the mid-1980s. The long-term selection response in carcass leanness has also resulted in changes in deposition rates of correlated traits such as LMA and IMF.