PIC®800 now with Germany index
The new index scenario places particular emphasis on German market requirements. In this country, the profit from a fattening pig is significantly more influenced by the meat content than in other countries and markets. Therefore, in addition to the Duroc-typical characteristics such as growth and feed efficiency, meat content, back fat and muscle thickness essentially determine the direction of breeding progress in the German pig population.
The further development of the PIC®800 population in the Wulkow nucleus farm in Brandenburg was realigned a few weeks ago, so that the PIC®800 in Wulkow is produced exclusively with the Germany index. Of course, interested farmers will not have to wait for the new PIC®800 - from July 1st, piglet producers will be able to obtain semen from AI boars whose breeding values were calculated according to the new index scenario.
The demand for robust and efficient fattening piglets/pigs is unbroken. The Duroc breed has established itself as a synonym for robustness and efficiency combined with special meat quality, but different markets require different products. Since adding the PIC®800 (2018) to its product portfolio, PIC has continuously expanded the population so that over 9,000 boar mothers worldwide now produce this terminal boar - more than any other breeding company has as a base population.
The size of the population also enables PIC to implement and offer such differentiation. At the same time as the population was expanded, all breeding instruments were applied, from comprehensive genotyping to refined data collection, introduction of new traits, exchange of breeding animals across different continents to ensure genetic linkage for global breeding value estimation, integration into the cross breeding program under a wide range of environmental conditions, and the introduction of digital foundation evaluation using artificial intelligence. All of these tools enable accurate and reliable breeding value estimation that specifically reflects the demands of the German market.
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