Genetic Parameter Estimation for Growth Traits in HD-K75 Pigs

Background: The AICRP on pigs, has developed a variety of pig called HD-K75 with 75% Hampshire inheritance and 25 % indigenous inheritance through 16 generations of inter-se mating with concomitant selection. These pigs have been distributed among the local farmers. This study was undertaken to monitor the performance and to estimate the genetic parameters to keep the HD-K75 pigs’ performance at a desirable level through proper and accurate selection. Methods: Growth records of the progenies of 44 sires and 114 dams of HD-K75 pigs maintained over 6 years from 2012 to 2018 bred in the ICAR-All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on pigs located at College of Veterinary Science, Assam Agricultural University, Khanapara, Guwahati were utilized to study the heritability of various growth traits. The heritability (h2) estimates were obtained by the paternal half-sib correlation method using the sire component of variance and co-variance. Result: The h2 estimates for body weight at birth, 42 days, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 6 months, 8 months and average daily gain during birth to 42 days, 42 days to 4th month, 42 days to 6th month and 42 days to 8th month of age were obtained as 0.391 ±0.110, 0.373 ± 0.116, 0.203±0.069, 0.131±0.070, 0.424±0.124, 0.904±0.224, 0.537±0.158, 0.071± 0.093, 0.198±0.067, 0.899± 0.222, 0.569±0.163 and 0.016±0.081 respectively. Moderate to high heritability estimates for body weight at various stages of growth in the present study indicated that the population under investigation possesses a good amount of additive genetic variance and these estimates may be incorporated in appropriate selection programs for genetic improvement of the herd.