Relationship of leg soundness trait to meat performance and body size in Duroc swine

A total of 258 Duroc pigs (50 boars, 149 gilts and 59 barrows) was used to investigate the relationships of leg soundness traits to meat performance and body size. Leg soundness score and the circumference of fore shank and hind shank were recorded, and heritabilities of leg soundness traits were estimated. Boars were reared individually and approximately 8-9 gi1ts and barrows were housed per pen, and they were fed ad libitum to grow from 30kg to 105kg of live weight. Meat performance traits, body size and the shortest circumference of fore shank and hind shank were recorded at 105kg of live weight. Leg soundness scores of the fore legs and hind legs were also marked for their structure using the NPPC method. The phenotypic and genetic correlations of fore leg soundness score with back fat thickness (BF) measured at Bye different positions were all negative and highly negative correlations of fore leg soundness score with BF at the fore part of the body were obtained. The phenotypiccorrelations between hind leg soundness score and BF were different in sex; positive values were observed only for boars and the values of gi1ts and barrows were negative. The phenotypic correlations between fore leg soundness score and chest width were low for boars, but values of gi1ts and barrows were negative. Although the genetic correlations between leg soundness scores and chest width were all negative, the values between leg soundness scores and body height were found to be positive. Heritabilities of leg soundness traits estimated by analysis of variance were .306, .231, .429 and .414 for fore and hind leg soundness score, and the circumference of fore shank and hind shank, respectively