Relationship of Foot Base Traits to Meat Production and Body Measurements in Swine

Abstract

A total of 344 Large White pigs (including 142 gilts and 202 boars) were slaughtered at 90kg body weight to study the relationship of foot base traits, such as foot base area (FBA), inside/outside ratio of foot base area (IOR) and the incidence of foot base lesion, to meat production traits and body measurements. All the pigs were raised in an enclosed pen with the concrete (partially slotted) floor and had an ad libitum access to a 70.1% TDN and 12.7% DCP diet from the time of approximately 25kg body weight till the time of the slaughter. The FBA and IOR in the front foot were larger (P<.01 each) than those in the hind foot. The FBA in the right foot was larger (P<.01) than that in the left foot. Boars had larger (P<.01) FBA than gilts. The FBA was positively correlated with daily gain, carcass length, and shank circumference. It was negatively correlated with backfat thickness and loin eye area. The IOR in hind foot was negatively correlated with ham ratio. The incidence of foot base lesion was 71.5 percent of all the pigs. There were significantly higher (P<.01) incidence in outside toes than in inside toes in both front and hind feet. The pigs with some foot base lesions had smaller (P<.01) FBA than those with no lesion. There seems to be no relationship between the incidence of foot base lesion and meat production traits or body measurements. Heritability estimates for the FBA in front outside, front inside, hind outside and hind inside toes were 0.561, 0.564, 0.423 and 9.495, respectively, using full-sib analysis. Those for the IOR of front and hind foot were 0.475 and 0.354, respectively. The heritability for the incidence of foot base lesion was 0.353 based on the method by LUSH et al. Overall, the results suggest that mass selection for the FBA and IOR is usefull to improve the foot soundness, but it has some problems with loin eye area and ham ratio.