Estimation of Genetic Parameters for Feeding Pattern Traits and Its Relationship to Feed Efficiency and Production Traits in Duroc Pigs

This study was conducted to estimate the genetic parameters of different feeding pattern traits, including average daily feed intake (ADFI), average occupation time per day (AOTD), average occupation time per visit (AOTV), average daily feeding rate (ADFR), average feeding rate per feeding visit (AFRV), average feed intake per feeding visit (AFIV), and average number of visits per day (ANVD), and their genetic relationship to production traits, such as on-test average daily gain (ADG), backfat thickness (BFT), loin muscle area (LMA), lean percentage (LP), and feed efficiency traits, such as feed conversion ratio (FCR) and five measures of residual feed intake (RFI1 to RFI5), in Duroc pigs (DD). The non-heritable common spatial pen effect was also estimated in all studied traits. The feeding pattern traits used in this study were derived from filtered feeding visits of 602 DD pigs. Using three animal models and the REML method, the genetic parameters revealed low to moderate heritability for ADFI (0.19 to 0.32) and AFIV (0.18 to 0.33), moderate heritability for ANVD (0.28 to 0.35) and AOTV (0.21 to 0.31), and high heritability for AOTD (0.73), ADFR (0.62 to 0.64), and AFRV (0.59 to 0.63). The addition of a common spatial pen effect in models 2 and 3 had a substantial impact, ranging from 8% to 23%, on the total variability of most feeding pattern traits, with the exception of AOTD, which only had a percentage variance of 0.30% due to the pen effect. The genetic and phenotypic correlation revealed that ADFI had consistent moderate to high genetic and phenotypic correlation with production and feed efficiency (FE) traits. However, selection against ADFI would negatively affect on-test ADG. Interestingly, the AOTD had no genetic correlation with ADG (0.04), low to moderate positive genetic correlation with FCR (0.27) and all RFI measures (0.24 to 0.33), and moderate negative correlation with LP (−0.39), indicating that selection for DD pigs with lower AOTD would not influence on-test ADG but may increase LP and improve feed efficiency by lowering FCR and all RFI measures. However, the corresponding phenotypic correlation of AOTD with production and feed efficiency traits was mostly weak, which can be attributed to the low residual or environmental correlation between these correlated traits. At the genetic level, the feeding pattern traits showed potential in improving feed efficiency and production traits. However, further studies are needed to evaluate their impact at phenotypic level.