A transcriptome multi-tissue analysis identifies biological pathways and genes associated with variations in feed efficiency of growing pigs

Table 1 Growth and body composition traits in pigs from the low or high RFI lines

Line^a	Low RFI	High RFI	sem	P-line
Pigs, n	24	24
Age (d)	132	131	4	-
Body weight (kg)	77.8	73.3	5.5	0.008
Feed intake (g/d)	2250	2307	106	0.099
Average daily gain (g/d)	882	796	73	<0.001
Gain to feed (G:F) ratio, 77–132 d	0.38	0.35	0.02	<0.001
Dorsal subcutaneous AT thickness (mm)	13.6	14.0	1.03	0.49
Weight of tissues
Liver (%BW)	2.11	2.32	0.19	<0.001
Longissimus muscle (%BW)	4.39	3.99	0.32	<0.001
Dorsal subcutaneous AT (%BW)	4.79	5.00	0.78	0.34
Perirenal AT (%BW)	0.70	0.69	0.12	0.51

^aTwo pig lines were divergently selected over eight generations for residual feed intake (RFI). A subset of 48 pigs was tested for performance from 74 days to 132 days of age and used tissue sampling. The resulting phenotype in this subset was an improved gain-to-feed ratio and greater muscularity in pigs from the low RFI line when compared with pigs from the high RFI line. AT Adipose tissue, BW Body weight

ISSN: 1471-2164