Genotype and sex effects on the performance characteristics of pigs

Data from fifty-four pigs: twenty-five Duroc, twenty-one Large White and eight crosses of Duroc and Large White (Hybrid) were used to quantify and mathematically describe the performance traits of pigs. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of genotype, sex and their interaction on the performance characteristics of three pig genotypes. The pigs were 30 kg of body weight and 70 days of age at the beginning of the study. Records for body weight (BW), body length (BL), feed intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), rump and back fat thickness, trunk length(TRL), height at withers (HW), chest girth (CG),tail length (TL), shoulder to tail length (STL) were used for the analysis. The results of the least squares means analysis on the performance traits showed that genotype and sex were important sources of variation for traits such as feed intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), rump and back fat thickness. Also, the linear body traits namely; body weight (BW), body length (BL), trunk length (TRL), height at withers (HW), chest girth (CG), tail length(TL) and shoulder to tail length (STL) were significantly (P<0.05) influenced by genotype and sex. The male sex and the hybrid had better performance traits at various stages. Key words: Pig, genotype, sex, hybrid, duroc, Large White.