Genetic characterization of domestic pigs in the core zone of swine production of Argentina

FIGUEROA, C. E.; MAC ALLISTER, M. E.; ACOSTA, D. B.; FERNÁNDEZ, G. P.; MERINO, M. L.

TROPICAL ANIMAL HEALTH AND PRODUCTION

SPRINGER

Año: 2023 vol. 56

0049-4747

Argentina is a small player in the global pork market, contributing only 0.7% of the total production. With increasing globaldemand for meat, there is an opportunity for countries with an agricultural profile to grow their pork production. However,there is a need to understand the current state of the pork production sector in all aspects to inform decision-making. The aimof this study was to genetically characterize pig herds from different production strata in the primary region for pork productionin the country. For this purpose, phylogenetic and genetic variability analyses were performed using the mitochondrialcontrol region marker (n=95 pig samples). Moreover, genotyping of ryr1 and PRKAG3 genes (n=108 pig samples) wereperformed to evaluate the frequency of deleterious alleles for meat quality traits in the region. The results showed high levelsof genetic variability in the pig herds (Hd= 0.840 ± 0.031 and π= 0.010 ± 0.001), with a creole sow and Iberian lineagestanding out in the phylogeny. The genotyping of the ryr1 marker revealed the presence of the deleterious t allele in all analyzedstrata. However, the RN-allele of the PRKAG3 gene was detected only in the two lower strata. This study representsthe first analysis of the phylogenetic relationships among domestic pigs from Argentina and provides an initial assessmentof genetic variability in the region. Additionally, the results present, for the first time, the frequency of deleterious allelesfor pig production in the productive core area, demonstrating their prevalence.