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. 2021 Feb 4:11:612815.
doi: 10.3389/fgene.2020.612815. eCollection 2020.

Genetic Parameters for Tolerance to Heat Stress in Crossbred Swine Carcass Traits

Maria Usala  1 , Nicolò Pietro Paolo Macciotta  1 , Matteo Bergamaschi  2 , Christian Maltecca  2 , Justin Fix  3 , Clint Schwab  3   4 , Caleb Shull  4 , Francesco Tiezzi  2
Affiliations

Genetic Parameters for Tolerance to Heat Stress in Crossbred Swine Carcass Traits

Maria Usala et al. Front Genet. .

Abstract

Data for loin and backfat depth, as well as carcass growth of 126,051 three-way crossbred pigs raised between 2015 and 2019, were combined with climate records of air temperature, relative humidity, and temperature-humidity index. Environmental covariates with the largest impact on the studied traits were incorporated in a random regression model that also included genomic information. Genetic control of tolerance to heat stress and the presence of genotype by environment interaction were detected. Its magnitude was more substantial for loin depth and carcass growth, but all the traits studied showed a different impact of heat stress and different magnitude of genotype by environment interaction. For backfat depth, heritability was larger under comfortable conditions (no heat stress), as compared to heat stress conditions. Genetic correlations between extreme values of environmental conditions were lower (∼0.5 to negative) for growth and loin depth. Based on the solutions obtained from the model, sires were ranked on their breeding value for general performance and tolerance to heat stress. Antagonism between overall performance and tolerance to heat stress was moderate. Still, the models tested can provide valuable information to identify genetic material that is resilient and can perform equally when environmental conditions change. Overall, the results obtained from this study suggest the existence of genotype by environment interaction for carcass traits, as a possible genetic contributor to heat tolerance in swine.

Keywords: fat and muscle growth; genotype by environment interaction; heat stress; heritability; single-step genomic BLUP.

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Conflict of interest statement

The study used data that were provided as in kind by The Maschhoffs LLC. ClS, CaS, and JF were employed by The Maschhoffs LLC or Acuity Ag Solutions LLC at the time of submission. The results are commercially of interest to the above-mentioned companies but this interest did not influence the results presented in this manuscript in any matter. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
(A,B). Average values of daily maximum (T max), average (T avg), and minimum (T min) temperatures, and daily maximum (RH max), average (RH avg), and minimum (RH min) relative humidity through the year for years 2015–2019 as used in this study. Shadowed regions represent hot (top-left to bottom-right lines) and cold (bottom-left to top-right lines) seasons.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Heritability estimates (95% empirical confidence intervals) for the three carcass quality traits of animals over the range of the respective climatic variable. The black dots report the estimates from the first-order Legendre polynomial random regression model. The blue dots report the estimates from the second-order Legendre polynomial random regression model (available for Carcass Average Daily Gain only).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
(A–C). Estimates of additive genetic correlations using the genomic random regression model (2) for the corresponding climatic variable and carcass quality trait combinations.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Reaction norms for the twenty sires showing the higher and lower estimated breeding values (EBV) for the intercept term of the random regression model.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Reaction norms for the twenty sires showing the higher and lower estimated breeding values (EBV) for the slope term of the random regression model.
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