86. Genetic associations between tail biting victim status and removal reasons in growing pigs

Title
86. Genetic associations between tail biting victim status and removal reasons in growing pigs
Publication Date
2025-11
Author(s)
Reda, A A
Gurman, P M
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4375-115X
Email: pgurman@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:pgurman
Harper, J
Hermesch, S
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9647-5988
Email: skahtenb@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:skahtenb
Aldridge, M N
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9033-3081
Email: maldrid3@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:maldrid3
Type of document
Conference Publication
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Place of publication
The Netherlands
DOI
10.1016/j.anscip.2025.09.087
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/74922
Abstract

Introduction: Phenotypically, the severity of tail lesions is associated with poor health and welfare, with increased incidence of respiratory diseases, musculoskeletal abnormalities, and mortality in pigs (Boyle et al., 2022). Most recently, Gorssen et al. (2024) found that there are genetic correlations between tail biting and lameness, ear biting, and mortality in finishing pigs. However, these findings were inconclusive as the genetic correlations were associated with high standard errors, possibly due to the small sample size (n = 1919 pigs). Moreover, the extent of the genetic correlation between tail biting and respiratory diseases has not yet been investigated in pigs. Actinobacillus pleuropneumonia (APP) was selected as an example of a respiratory disease that may have an established phenotypic link to tail biting, presumably due to common risk factors and the possibility for the systemic spread of infection, including pneumonia (Marques et al., 2012, Teixeira et al., 2016). The hypothesis for this study was that there is a positive genetic correlation between tail biting lesions and removal due to lameness, APP, or sudden death. Hence, the selection for lower tail biting incidence could be used to improve pig welfare and health.

Link
Citation
Animal – Science Proceedings, 16(5), p. 842-843
Start page
842
End page
843

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