A stress susceptibility-targeted approach for genetic improvement of pork meat quality

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The pork industry is a vital sector of Canadian economy, which exported $4 billion in 2018 (Canadian Pork Council, 2019). Farm animals, including pigs, experience stresses throughout their life, including social stress (e.g., feeding competition and weaning) and environmental stress (e.g., extreme temperatures, tight space and novel environment during transportation and at abattoir). It is well documented that stress impacts swine health and negatively affects production, including feed efficiency, growth and meat quality. Decades of growth and leanness-driven genetic breeding may have been at the expense of other traits such as animal behaviours and stress. In this proposal, we will focus on our newly discovered stress genes and identify beneficial genetic variations/DNA markers for enhancing meat quality while lowering sow stress. With the industrial support of Ontario Pork, Alliance Genetics Canada Inc (one of the biggest breeding companies in Ontario), and our collaborator, Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement Inc, we aim to devise a panel of genetic markers for genetic selection and breeding of high meat quality pigs with improved animal welfare for the swine industry.