Genetic parameters and genomic prediction for feed intake recorded at the group and individual level in different production systems for growing pigs

BACKGROUND: In breeding programs, recording large-scale feed intake (FI) data routinely at the individual level is costly and difficult compared with other production traits. An alternative approach could be to record FI at the group level since animals such as pigs are normally housed in groups and fed by a shared feeder. However, to date there have been few investigations about the difference between group- and individual-level FI recorded in different environments. We hypothesized that group- and individual-level FI are genetically correlated but different traits. This study, based on the experiment undertaken in purebred DanBred Landrace (L) boars, was set out to estimate the genetic variances and correlations between group- and individual-level FI using a bivariate random regression model, and to examine to what extent prediction accuracy can be improved by adding information of individual-level FI to group-level FI for animals recorded in groups. For both bivariate and univariate models, single-step genomic best linear unbiased prediction (ssGBLUP) and pedigree-based BLUP (PBLUP) were implemented and compared. RESULTS: The variance components from group-level records and from individual-level records were similar. Heritabilities estimated from group-level FI were lower than those from individual-level FI over the test period. The estimated genetic correlations between group- and individual-level FI based on each test day were on average equal to 0.32 (SD = 0.07), and the estimated genetic correlation for the whole test period was equal to 0.23. Our results demonstrate that by adding information from individual-level FI records to group-level FI records, prediction accuracy increased by 0.018 and 0.032 compared with using group-level FI records only (bivariate vs. univariate model) for PBLUP and ssGBLUP, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the current dataset, our findings support the hypothesis that group- and individual-level FI are different traits. Thus, the differences in FI traits under these two feeding systems need to be taken into consideration in pig breeding programs. Overall, adding information from individual records can improve prediction accuracy for animals with group records. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12711-021-00624-3.