New Research in Population Health Nick Boddicker, PhD In February we attended the World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production. This conference is held every 4 years and is one of the most informative conferences for livestock geneticists to attend. The conference covers many different topics, including genetics of disease. Genesus is an
Genetics and the Pig’s Gut Bob Kemp VP Genetic Programs and R&D A pig’s gut, or more specifically the microorganisms (microbiota) in it, are a major topic of interest. The initial and still important reason for this has been the pig’s use as a model for human gastrointestinal tract (GI) microbiome research on topics
Pius B. Mwansa, PhD, Genesus Inc. As a process, mating of individuals that are related is defined as inbreeding. Strictly speaking, all animals in a breed or population are related since most breeds were founded by a small number of animals. However, in practice inbreeding is thought of as mating of animals that
Research in pigs benefits human health Dan Columbus and Lee Whittington, Prairie Swine Centre Awareness of the benefits of using large animal models in human nutrition and health related research has increased. In fact, it has been estimated that as little as 40% of research results obtained from rodent models result in successful human clinical
mproving the Laying Area for Gestating Sows This video clip contains testimonials from hog producers who participated in a project focused on strategies to improve laying areas for gestating sows housed in groups. As part of this project, devices to fill the gaps between slats were installed in the sow pens (Photos 1 and 2).
The Impact of Marbling on Production Traits and Carcass Composition Derek Petry, PhD, Gnesus Inc. Swine breeding programs have traditionally been focused on production efficiencies (i.e. growth rate and feed conversion) and leanness of the carcass. This focus has led to dramatic improvement in production efficiency and feed conversion. More recently, the market is
Pavel Trefilov, Swine Specialist, Genesus Inc. If you search the internet «sows do not produce milk» or «sows do not produce enough milk» you will find multiple articles, trials, recommendations and expert’s opinions; that often contradict each other. We all still have a lot of questions related to sows’ lactation, especially in the
One small difference when it comes to winter ventilation, is that for a period of time, in late fall and also in early spring, staff need to be more vigilant on a day to day basis to ensure room temperature fluctuations are kept to a minimum. This usually means daily vigilance monitoring first and second stage ventilation fans and either installing or
Dinesh Thekkoot PhD Genomic selection (GS) is a new method for improving economic traits in animal populations by utilizing information from molecular markers, phenotypes and pedigree. This method provides the opportunity to estimate the breeding values of selection candidates more accurately and much earlier in life and for traits that are difficult to measure
Author(s): Harold Gonyou, Jen Brown, T. S. Samarakone, T. Crowe, S. Torrey, R. Bergeron, T. Widowski, C. Dewey, and L. Faucitano Publication Date: October 5, 2011 Reference: Centred on Swine 17-1 Country: Canada Summary: Previous research at PSC has shown there is significant variation in conditions (temperature and humidity) among different compartments in trucks
