Affordable Quality Pork
Egbert F. Knol
Topigs Norsvin Research Center, Beuningen, the Netherlands
Focus. As an industry we risk to lose focus on what the pork chain is about. Consumers appreciating
pork and being able to purchase it at prices competing with beef and poultry. In my home country,
price is a more relevant factor than quality, in Spain and Italy quality is everything.
Genotypes. Geneticists have spent the past 5-10 years developing a genomic toolset in which much
more precise tools are used to approach the breeding goal: lowering the cost price of quality meat.
This toolset gives much better estimates of the relationship matrix than the usual paper pedigree.
These better estimates for the relations make the ‘transport’ of phenotypes through the family
structures much more effective; that means that the accuracies of breeding values increase by
around 50%, creating an extra 50% genetic trend. At the same time the cost of sequencing animals
and the statistical tools to impute (derive) the full sequence are getting cheaper and better every 6
months. Databases have been developed to check and store all this genomic data. The end is in sight;
full sequence estimates for all selection candidates.
Phenotypes. Current developments are in phenotyping. At the start of my own career, 35 year ago,
an animal was tested for daily gain, and back fat. After the performance test the index, which
comprised the combination of growth and leanness was cross-referenced in a two dimensional table
and the resulting index was almost tattooed on the back of the animal as a lifelong genetic quality.
The industry has moved forward. Breeding companies store breeding values for dozens to hundreds
of different traits, like feed efficiency, meat quality in terms of water binding, colour, and intra
muscular fat, but also uterine development, perinatal-, pre- and post-weaning survival and longevity
of sows. A number of these traits even for different environments. The genetic quality estimates of
the animals, the breeding values are almost ‘real time’ asall the latest information on its own
performance and on family members worldwide is used to update the ranking of animals on farm,
almost each and every day.
What is next. Research is focussing on a number of directions. (1) even further phenotyping, big data;
(2) (new) reproductive techniques to further accelerate genetic trend and/or to make dissemination
of genetic trend faster and more client oriented; (3) precision production, closing the gap between
the consumer/retailer/processor and the breeding company, the ‘push and pull’, up and down from
purebred to crossbred and back. (4) maintain the licence to produce, a constant effort to update the
niche in which we are allowed to operate.
‘(1) even further phenotyping’. Topigs Norsvin operates a Computer Tomographic device, which can
establish the status of each square cm in a live animal, whether it is organ, muscle, fat or connective
tissue. This allows us the ideal reference for the selection of the next generation, but not only that.
From this reference simplifications like the Autofom and new video image techniques, such as the
constant weight monitoring of animals can be derived, allowing better weight curves, but also a grip
on behaviour of animals. Not directly obvious, but the relation between the pig of interest and other
genomes is highly important; social interactions between pigs, and interaction between the
microbiome and the animal of interest, and host-pathogen interaction can nowadays be monitored.
‘(2) (new) reproductive techniques’. IVF, In vitro Fertilisation in humans is everywhere, most probably
you know one or more friends, family, colleagues with experience in that direction. Ovum Pick Up in
cattle is a day to day business, aiming at an increase of the reproductive capacity of females; in terms
of genetic trend this is becoming one of the limiting factors in pigs. More genetic trend is possible if
we can make sows produce more offspring. Cloning is a very dedicated solution in this direction.
‘(3) Precision Production’. If cost price of a pig is assumed to be 150 dollars, then the standard
deviation of that cost price is around 10 dollars in an average grow-finish barn. Some individuals will
be 20 dollars below and others 20 dollars above the average of 150 dollar cost price or revenue. The
challenge of the near future will be to capture that variation. Radio Frequency ID (RFID) type of
tagging from birth, linking the animal to its parents through the pork production chain and as far into
the consumer network will help to reduce costs and increase quality per individual animal.
‘(4) License to produce’ . Key work for Topigs Norsvin is pen performance. 90% of all pigs in the world
are grow finish animals. Mostly penned together in groups between 10 and 25. As an industry we
need to re-evaluate this penning system. Social interaction plays an important role in stress and
behaviour of animals; with that in the use of antibiotics and, on occasion, the development of
zoonoses. On a more structural basis the pig has to find and defend its niche among cattle poultry
and humans. Feeding them by-products of the human food chain, and also fibers are options. Pigs
themselves do not digest fiber, but there is genetic variation between animals in fiber digestion,
because of differences in the microbiome population enabled by individual animals.
Fazit. Topigs Norsvin is genotyping around 100, 000 animals per year, has the social interaction data
of around 600, 000 animals and birth weight and survival data of more than 7, 000, 000 piglets. This
information is the backbone to follow crossbred grow finish animals into the pork chain and trace
pork quality data back. Reproductive techniques will help to make dissemination of genetic quality
safer and more efficient.