Effects of divergent selection upon adrenocortical activity on immune traits in pig.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The sustainability of farming and animal welfare requires the reconsideration of current selection schemes. In particular, implementation of new selection criteria related to animal health and welfare should help to produce more robust animals and to reduce anti-microbial use. The hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis plays a major role in metabolic regulation and adaptation processes and its activity is strongly influenced by genetic factors. A positive association between HPA axis activity and robustness was recently described. To explore whether selecting pigs upon HPA axis activity could increase their robustness, a divergent selection experiment was carried out in the Large White pig breed. This allowed the generation of low (HPA^lo) and high (HP

SUBMITTER: Herve J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6398250 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature