Berücksichtigung der Fleischqualität bei der Selektion innerhalb Linien beim Schwein – eine Studie

Abstract. Title of the paper: Selection for meat quality within pure bred lines in swine – a study
The main criticism of the operators at the present final products concern the variance in valuable cuts and meat quality traits and the absence of any favourable attributes. The paper reviews traits which can be used to determine pig meat quality in terms of methods, genetic parameters, economic importance and selection response (index, QTL). Heritability estimates of meat quality traits from the literature and own analyses show low or moderate values. In halothane negative populations heritabilities are diminished which is also true for the correlations between meat quality and carcass traits. The relationship among intramuscular fat and sensoric attributes is in general low so the role of intramuscular fat for sensoric aspects should not be overestimated.

The economic values for most quality depend on the population level and the monetary evaluation. Due to the optimum values for most quality traits the relationship between population mean and valuation is nonlinear. Using different hypothetical payment system the economic value for IMF is calculated. The results show that only in the situation where the population mean is close to the optimum of 2.5 % a high economic value for IMF can be justified. Finally improving meat quality by selection index and QTL-information is discussed. The future selection strategy should focus on halothan negative lines (using MHS-information) due to the minimization of meat failure and reduction of variance in carcass and meat quality traits. At present the inclusion of further traits (e.g. intramuscular fat) is not indicated. Requirements for special market segments can performed using complementary levels of different breeds.