PIC is implementing relationship-based genomic selection in all of its crossbred boar products from next month (August 2014).
The company will continue its differentiated implementation of genomic technology and will be first to use this process in all pure and crossbred products, and in every trait impacting selection decisions.
“PIC continues to lead the global livestock industry in utilisation of genomics to accelerate genetic gain for our customers,” PIC’s director of product development, Dr Matt Culbertson, said. “This implementation step builds on our previous implementation in all pure lines and will increase the accuracy of our selection process. It will subsequently increase our rate of progress by an additional 35% versus other industry programmes.”
PIC’s chief operations officer, Dr Bill Christianson, added PIC was focused on making the investments needed to bring its customers’ greater product differentiation and performance potential.
“This latest advancement is another step in our quest to never stop improving and to deliver on our goal of increased profit potential for our customers,” he said.
PIC’s relationship-based genomic selection, also known as single-step genomic selection, uses a proprietary genotyping and statistical platform to calculate how related animals are at the genetic level. It will increase the accuracy of evaluating animals as parents of the next generation.
PIC began implementing relationship-based genomic selection in its pure lines in the winter of 2012-2013 and completed full implementation for all nucleus populations and traits in the autumn of 2013.
