A hernia umbilicalis in a piglet a common genetic defect. Photo: Robin Britstra
Genetic selection has caused an ever-growing increase in the number of pigs born alive. However, other important factors in pig production are overlooked. This article lists 4 of them. Could it be time for a fundamental rethink? For decades, average numbers of pigs born alive hovered around the 10.5 mark. Selection for prolificacy was not considered worthwhile, as the heritability values (h2) were considered too low (8–10%). Then French research in the 1960s and 1970s started looking at ident
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