Untersuchungen zur Wirtschaftlichkeit der genomischen Selektion beim bayerischen Piétrainschwein

The study aimed at assessing the profitability of a genomic selection strategy for the Bavarian sire breed Piétrain. For this purpose, the current breeding program was compared with different alternative schemes. The basic version of the genomic scheme comprised genotyping of 1.200 male selection candidates. As a possibility to expand the genomic strategy, we additionally considered scenarios where also breeding sows were genotyped. All schemes were compared in terms of monetary genetic gain and profit per animal and year. Another comparison was made with regard to total profit of the different scenarios, which was calculated from the total returns and the costs incurring for phenotyping and genotyping. The use of genomic information increased the reliability of breeding values of young boars by 16% on average (from 36% to 52%). Monetary genetic gain increased by 8 to 16% and total profit by about 30% depending on the percentage of breeding sows mated to genotyped young boars and on whether or not sows were genotyped, too. Even when costs are higher, the genotyping of sows seems worthwhile. By this means not only the total profit, but also the size of the calibration set can be increased, which in turn positively affects the reliability of the genomic breeding value estimation.