Study of genetic and environmental factors, characterizing the feed efficiency in Duroc pigs

Feed efficiency is the most important economically relevant factor in swine breeding. The values of daily feed intake (DFI) and feed conversion rate (the ratio of feed intake to the body weight gain for a certain period, FCR). A group of factors that can affect the feed efficiency is the feeding behavior. In this regard, it is relevant to study the genetic and environmental variability of a number of factors that affect the growth, feed efficiency, and ethological features of feed intake in Duroc pigs based on the automatic feeding station data records. The aim of our study was to select at test population the factors which can be associated with feed efficiency, including following traits: body weight (BW, kg), average daily gain (ADG, g), daily feed intake (DFI, g/day), time spent at the feeding station (TPD, min), the number of visits to the feeding station per day (NVD, times), feed intake per visit (FPV, g), feed rate (FR, g/min), and the time at the feeding station per visit (TPV, min)...