Modest contribution of metabolomic data to genomic prediction of breeding values for feed conversion ratio in pigs
Xiangyu Guo, Mark Henryon, Vinzent Börner, Tage Ostersen, Ole F. Christensen · 2026
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Description
Xiangyu Guo and four colleagues ask in 2026 whether blood chemistry profiles can sharpen genetic predictions of feed efficiency in pigs. Feed conversion ratio, the feed needed per unit of growth, is costly to measure head-on, so breeders predict breeding values from DNA. The team tested whether adding metabolite profiles from magnetic resonance spectroscopy sharpened those predictions in Duroc pigs.
The herd held 8,174 pigs, with males at a test station providing feed records and females checked through their offspring. Adding the chemistry data lifted prediction accuracy by only about two percent. Pairing the trait with daily gain added a gain of the same small size. Neither gain reached statistical significance. The authors blame one-time sampling and suggest better sampling designs could let chemistry data contribute more.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Xiangyu Guo, Mark Henryon, Vinzent Börner, Tage Ostersen, Ole F. Christensen |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 67005 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC0 |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |