Due to ethical reasons, surgical castration of young male piglets in their first week of life without anesthesia will be banned in Germany from 2021. Breeding against boar taint is already implemented in sire breeds of breeding organizations but in recent years a low demand made this trait economically less important. The objective of this study was to estimate heritabilities and genetic relationships between boar taint compounds androstenone and skatole and maternal/paternal reproduction traits in 4′924 Landrace (LR) and 4′299 Large White (LW) animals from nucleus populations. Additionally, genome wide association analysis (GWAS) was performed per trait and breed to detect SNP marker with possible pleiotropic effects that are associated with boar taint and fertility. Estimated heritabilities (h2) were 0.48 (±0.08) for LR (0.39 ± 0.07 for LW) for androstenone and 0.52 (±0.08) for LR (0.32 ± 0.07 for LW) for skatole. Heritabilities for reproduction did not differ between breeds except age at first insemination (LR: h2 = 0.27 (±0.05), LW: h2 = 0.34 (±0.05)). Estimates of genetic correlation (rg) between boar taint and fertility were different in LR and LW breeds. In LR an unfavorable rg of 0.31 (±0.15) was observed between androstenone and number of piglets born alive, whereas this rg in LW (− 0.15 (±0.16)) had an opposite sign. A similar breed-specific difference is observed between skatole and sperm count. Within LR, the rg of 0.08 (±0.13) indicates no relationship between the traits, whereas the rg of − 0.37 (±0.14) in LW points to an unfavorable relationship. In LR GWAS identified QTL regions on SSC5 (21.1–22.3 Mb) for androstenone and on SSC6 (5.5–7.5 Mb) and SSC14 (141.1–141.6 Mb) for skatole. For LW, one marker was found on SSC17 at 48.1 Mb for androstenone and one QTL on SSC14 between 140.5 Mb and 141.6 Mb for skatole. Knowledge about such genetic correlations could help to balance conventional breeding programs with boar taint in maternal breeds. QTL regions with unfavorable pleiotropic effects on boar taint and fertility could have deleterious consequences in genomic selection programs. Constraining the weighting of these QTL in the genomic selection formulae may be a useful strategy to avoid physiological imbalances.

中文翻译：

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德国长白和大白猪公猪异味与生育性状之间的基因组背景和遗传关系。

由于道德原因，德国将从2021年起禁止在未麻醉的情况下对年轻雄性仔猪进行手术ration割。自2002年起，已经在许多育种组织的种公羊中进行了防止公猪异味的育种，但近年来需求不高。在经济上不太重要。这项研究的目的是评估来自核种群的4'924长白（LR）和4'299大白（LW）动物的公猪异味化合物雄烯酮和粪臭素之间的遗传力和遗传关系，以及母体/父系繁殖性状。此外，对每个性状和品种进行全基因组关联分析（GWAS），以检测具有公猪异味和育性可能的多效性效应的SNP标记。LR（0.39±0）的估计遗传力（h2）为0.48（±0.08）。对于雄烯酮，LW为07），对LR粪便为LR（LR2为0.32±0.07）为0.52（±0.08）。除了第一次授精的年龄外，不同品种之间的生殖遗传力没有差异（LR：h2 = 0.27（±0.05），LW：h2 = 0.34（±0.05））。LR和LW品种公猪异味和繁殖力之间的遗传相关性（rg）估计不同。在LR中，在雄烯酮和存活的仔猪数量之间观察到不利的rg 0.31（±0.15），而在LW中的rg（-0.15（±0.16））具有相反的征兆。在粪臭素和精子数量之间观察到相似的品种特异性差异。在LR内，rg为0.08（±0.13）表示性状之间没有关系，而LW的rg为-0.37（±0.14）则指示不利的关系。在LR GWAS中，确定了雄烯酮的SSC5（21.1-22.3 Mb）和SSC6（5.5-7.5 Mb）和SSC14（141.）的QTL区。粪臭素为1–141.6 Mb）。对于LW，在SSC17上发现一个标记，雄烯酮为48.1 Mb，在SSC14上发现一个QTL，粪臭素为140.5 Mb和141.6 Mb。有关这种遗传相关性的知识可以帮助平衡常规育种计划和母本公猪异味。对公猪异味和繁殖力有不利多效性影响的QTL地区可能对基因组选择计划产生有害影响。在基因组选择公式中限制这些QTL的权重可能是避免生理失衡的有用策略。对公猪异味和繁殖力有不利多效性影响的QTL地区可能对基因组选择计划产生有害影响。在基因组选择公式中限制这些QTL的权重可能是避免生理失衡的有用策略。对公猪异味和繁殖力有不利多效性影响的QTL地区可能对基因组选择计划产生有害影响。在基因组选择公式中限制这些QTL的权重可能是避免生理失衡的有用策略。