Abstract

In coordination with the other papers of this session consi
deration of direct selection responses will here be restricted 
to grwoth and carcass traits, while litter performance and 
stress susceptibility will be covered elsewhere.
Growth and carcass traits have been the dominant breeding ob
jectives for the last 30 years in most scientific selection 
experiments and in practical pig breeding programmes in coun
tries with intensive pig production. Following Danish examples 
testing stations were set up in many countries, to measure 
growth and carcass performance using indirect component traits 
of ever increasing accuracy. Early genetic analyses revealed 
fairly high additive genetic variability for such traits and 
therefore they were used in selection experiments and breeding 
programmes in order to achieve quick genetic improvements.

P. Glodek

Proceedings of the World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, Volume 5. Plenary sessions, , 568–577, 1982