| Abstrakt: |
One-hundred-fourteen individually fed Yorkshire boars, barrows and gilts were used in this study. In the fall season gilts grew (P<.05) slower (13%) than boars, and in the spring season both boars (13%) and barrows (15%) grew faster than gilts (P<.05). The feed efficiency of barrows and gilts did not differ significantly in either season. Boars were (P<.05) more efficient than gilts in the spring season. The efficiency advantage of boars over barrows and gilts was 7.4% when averaged across seasons. Barrows were significantly fatter than both gilts and boars in the spring season. Gilts and boars had significantly larger loin eye areas and higher ham and loin percentages than barrows in both seasons. For carcass traits the intraclass correlations among individually fed fullsibs tended to be higher than for group reared fullsibs from the same herd. The intraclass correlation among fullsibs for 154 day weight was higher for group fed pigs than for individually fed pigs. The phenotypic correlation of feed efficiency with average daily gain was −.43, which is much lower than for individually fed pigs in Danish testing stations. Correlations among growth and carcass traits are also reported. |
