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Generating a comprehensive data base and development of breeding strategies for a sustainable reduction of tail biting in pig breeding (PigsWithTails)
Project
Project code: 2815NA086, 5731
Contract period: 01.07.2016
- 30.06.2019
Budget: 196,697 Euro
Purpose of research: Experimental development
Pig production in Germany is in conflict between an orientation towards animal welfare and sustainable competitiveness. The trade-off is perfectly exemplified with the problem of tail biting, which regularly represents a massive problem for animal welfare under the existing production schemes, in particular without a preventive partial amputation of the tail. A targeted breeding to solve the problem is further complicated by the fact that a practical routine phenotyping procedure is not available. Therefore, knowledge of the degree of heritability, genetic correlations with other traits and interactions of the incidence of tail biting with factors of housing system under German housing conditions in breeding or production facilities are lacking. The proposed project is intended to overcome his shortcoming. The aim of this project is to create in three major German breeding populations a sufficient data base to allow to breed successfully against, tail biting’. Based onto the developed in the project-wide data base containing more than 30,000 observations easily detectable and meaningful indicator traits will be defined by which the incidence of tail biting can be detected routinely and comprehensively in breeding populations under the prevailing housing and feeding conditions. With the data obtained important parameters such as heritability, genetic correlations and genotype-environment interactions for the trait 'tail biting' will be determined and an association analysis and a genomic breeding value estimation for the trait will be conducted. The expected results will contribute to a competitive, sustainable and welfare-oriented German pig production.
Section overview
Subjects
- Animal breeding
Framework programme
Federal Organic Farming Scheme and other forms of sustainable agriculture (BÖLN)
Funding programme
Excutive institution
Funding institution
Project management agencies
Associated projects: PigsWithTails
- Generating a comprehensive data base and development of breeding strategies for a sustainable reduction of tail biting in pig breeding
- Generating a comprehensive data base and development of breeding strategies for a sustainable reduction of tail biting in pig breeding
- Generating a comprehensive data base and development of breeding strategies for a sustainable reduction of tail biting in pig breeding
