• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.1587-1594
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• 2011

Live weight, body length, hip and shoulder heights, heart girth, and metatarsal length were measured on 100 one to two years old Bali (Bos javanicus) bulls. Multiple regression of these measurements on live weight gave a prediction equation involving heart girth and body length (prediction $R^2$ = 0.845). These measurements were also used to derive several frame scores (FS). Live weight (Lwt) divided by FS was used as an index of body condition. Lwt/(length+hip height) was normally distributed and highly correlated with other normally-distributed condition indexes. This index was used to define five body condition scores. These were used to develop a five-point body condition scoring system in which the amount of fleshing over the vertebral processes, ribs, hindquarters, tail head, hooks, at the top of the neck, and the shoulders, the development of wrinkles in the skin above the hock and the neck, and the size of the dewlap, were used to describe the different body condition scores. Animals of score 1 had prominent hooks, shoulders, vertebrae and ribs, and hollow hindquarters and flat tailhead. Score 5 animals had rounded hindquarters, well-filled upper hind legs, small mounds of soft tissue were apparent on the tailhead, their hooks, necks, shoulders, vertebrae and ribs were well covered, and the dewlap was prominent.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1075-1079
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• 2005

The main objective of this study is to examine genetic changes in growth rate and carcass composition traits in group housed, ad libitum fed pigs, from lines of Large White divergently selected over four years for high and low post-weaning daily gain on a fixed but restricted ration. Genetic parameters for production and carcass traits were also estimated by using average information-restricted maximum likelihood applied to a multivariate individual animal model. All analyses were carried out on 1,728 records of group housed ad libitum fed pigs, and include a full pedigree of 5,324 animals. Estimates of heritability (standard errors in parentheses) were 0.11 (0.04) for lifetime daily liveweight gain (LDG), 0.13 (0.04) for daily carcass weight gain (CDG) and 0.28 (0.06) for carcass backfat (CFT). Genetic correlations between LDG and CDG were highly positive and between LDG and CFT negative, suggesting that selection for lifetime daily gain under commercial conditions of group housing with ad libitum feeding would result in favourable improvement in carcass traits. CFT showed negative genetic correlations with CDG. Correlated genetic responses evaluated as estimated breeding values (EBVs) were obtained from a multivariate animal model-best linear unbiased prediction analysis. After four years of divergent selection for 6 week post-weaning growth rate on restricted feeding, pigs performance tested on ad libitum feeding in groups exhibited changes in EBVs of 6.77 and -9.93 (g/d) for LDG, 4.25 and -7.08 (g/d) for CDG, and -1.42 and 1.55 (mm) for CFT, in the high and low lines, respectively. It is concluded that selection for growth rate on restricted feeding would significantly improve genetic performance and carcass composition of their descendants when group housed and ad libitum fed as is a common commercial practice.