Developments in pig breeding and the role of research

Pig breeding has developed into a knowledge-intensive activity. Breeding companies make extensive use of electronic equipment for measurement of selection traits in various tiers of the production pyramid, of database technology and of increasingly complicated statistical methods to derive selection criteria. Molecular genetics (marker-assisted selection/introgression) requires additional development of laboratory techniques and processing of data together with phenotypic observations. Reproductive techniques (AI, ET) and the interaction of the genotype with the production environment (nutrition, health, climate, housing) pose additional R&D requirements. The technology required for these processes was traditionally developed at universities and research institutes, and disseminated into the industry on a non-obligation basis. At a later stage, breeding companies were contractually involved in public research projects (e.g. PhD students), the results of which were often subject to some degree of confidentiality. Increasingly, breeding companies employ their own R&D staff to develop methods in-house, especially in the fields of data recording and molecular genetics; the results of such work are usually not (fully) published. It follows that the role of R&D in pig breeding is evolving in two mutually connected ways: (i) it is of increasing importance for product development, and therefore requires increased funding, and (ii) it is increasingly carried out in-house or on a contractual basis. We discuss the likely future patterns of this evolution, and the impact these will have on the industry.