Evidence of phenotypic relationships among behavioral characteristics of individual pigs and performance

The objective of this research was to estimate phenotypic relationships among backtest scores (BTS), resident-intruder test scores (RIS), growth rate, LM area, and backfat in pigs. Little is known about the relationships among measures of behavioral characteristics of individual pigs and economically important traits. However, it may be expected that a pig's behavior affects its performance and that of its pen mates. The backtest was used in this experiment because it was previously shown to be a measure of individual stress-coping behavior and was related to lean gain. The resident-intruder test was used because it is a measure of a pig's tendency for aggressive behavior toward an unfamiliar pig. Each test was performed twice on pigs (n = 150) from 20 litters, and complete performance data was available on 140 pigs. Between 7 and 14 d of age, the backtest was performed by placing each pig in a supine position and gently restraining it for 60 s. The number of escape attempts (bouts of struggling) and total time spent struggling were recorded. The BTS was the summation of escape attempts during both tests. Resident intruder tests were assessed when pigs were between 30 and 50 d of age. A solid divider was placed in the resident pig's pen. The resident was placed alone on 1 side of the divider, away from its penmates. An intruder pig of the same sex and smaller size was then placed into the pen. When an attack was initiated by the resident, the pigs were immediately separated, the test was terminated, and a score of 1 was recorded. If no attack occurred by 5 min, the test was terminated and was given a score of zero. The cumulative score from both tests was the RIS. Dam effects influenced BTS (P < 0.01) and RIS (P < 0.03). Preweaning ADG of pigs with a BTS of 8 was 120 g greater than that of pigs with a BTS of 2. However, ADG from 20 to 76 d of age was 131 g greater in pigs with BTS = 2 than in pigs with BTS = 8. Lean gain of pigs with RIS = 2 was 25 g/d greater than in those with RIS = 0 or 1. This resulted in pigs with RIS = 2 having 1.6 kg more acceptable, standardized, fat-free lean. Conflicting results were found when relating the BTS to performance. However, with the RIS, greater aggression toward other pigs was associated with better performance. It was concluded that an unfavorable phenotypic relationship existed between RIS and lean growth.