Genet. Sel. Evol. 40 (2008) 61-78
DOI: 10.1051/gse:2007035

Detection of quantitative trait loci for reproduction and production traits in Large White and French Landrace pig populations (Open Access publication)

Thierry Tribout¹, Nathalie Iannuccelli², Tom Druet¹, Hélène Gilbert¹, Juliette Riquet², Ronan Gueblez³, Marie-José Mercat³, Jean-Pierre Bidanel¹, Denis Milan² and Pascale Le Roy<sup>4

1</sup>  INRA UR337 Station de génétique quantitative et appliquée, 78352 Jouy-en-Josas, France
²  INRA UR444 Laboratoire de génétique cellulaire, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France
³  IFIP Institut du Porc, La Motte au Vicomte, BP 35104, 35651 Le Rheu Cedex, France
⁴  INRA UMR598 Génétique animale, 35042 Rennes, France

(Received 17 January 2007; accepted 31 July 2007 ; published online 21 December 2007)

Abstract - A genome-wide scan was performed in Large White and French Landrace pig populations in order to identify QTL affecting reproduction and production traits. The experiment was based on a granddaughter design, including five Large White and three French Landrace half-sib families identified in the French porcine national database. A total of 239 animals (166 sons and 73 daughters of the eight male founders) distributed in eight families were genotyped for 144 microsatellite markers. The design included 51 262 animals recorded for production traits, and 53 205 litter size records were considered. Three production and three reproduction traits were analysed: average backfat thickness (US_M) and live weight (LWGT) at the end of the on-farm test, age of candidates adjusted at 100 kg live weight, total number of piglets born per litter, and numbers of stillborn (STILLp) and born alive (LIVp) piglets per litter. Ten QTL with medium to large effects were detected at a chromosome-wide significance level of 5% affecting traits US_M (on SSC2, SSC3 and SSC17), LWGT (on SSC4), STILLp (on SSC6, SSC11 and SSC14) and LIVp (on SSC7, SSC16 and SSC18). The number of heterozygous male founders varied from 1 to 3 depending on the QTL.

Key words: quantitative trait locus / pig / commercial population / production trait / reproduction trait

Correspondence and reprints: thierry.tribout@jouy.inra.fr

© INRA, EDP Sciences 2008