May 31, 2022

 

Swine breeders in China embrace genetics in push for self-sufficiency

 

 

Chinese companies such as Best Genetics Group (BGG) are among 100 farms enrolled in state-led genetic research initiatives, aiming to improve the genetics of China's swine herd to produce cheaper meat for the biggest pork consumers in the world, Reuters reported.

 

Genetically improved swine could produce bigger litters, reach its slaughter weight faster, and need less feed, all key differentials in the Chinese market producing nearly 700 million swine annually.

 

The state-led initiative also aims to stop China from relying on imported pork and build a self-sustaining herd to feed its 1.4 billion people.

 

China relies on imports for breeding material, especially after an African swine fever outbreak in 2018-2019 that decimated its swine population.

 

Hao Wenjie, BGG's head breeder, said they must insist on their own independent breeding to provide high-quality seeds, or breeding stock, for the Chinese market and stop the need to go to foreign varieties.

 

Chinese breeders lack the experience in in collecting data, while high costs, competition and market volatility pose big issues as they seek to improve the genetics of overseas and local pigs.

 

Because of expensive imported feed and high levels of disease, swine raising in China costs two and a half times higher compared to the US.

 

BGG is one privately owned firm that is making progress in genetics research. After purchasing 1,200 purebred sows from Canada-based Genesus in 2012, BGG has expanded that herd to 6,000 and the average number of piglets born per litter to 15. This is one higher compared to where they started.

 

The company now aims to increase the litter size by another 1.35 in the next five years, and reduce the backfat on its boars.

 

BGG gathers hundreds of thousands of data points on features including litter size, loin depth, and daily weight increase per year. It breeds the pigs with the greatest values in these qualities, increasing performance with each generation.

 

The process is being sped up thanks to genomic selection.

 

BGG, for example, predicts how well a pig will perform based on DNA from the tissue of a piglet's ear, increasing the odds of picking the finest breeders.

 

Hao said they want to develop each attribute in 3-5 years.

 

Around 65 people work there for weeks at a time, performing artificial insemination, collecting neonatal statistics, and maintaining the herd's health.

 

Wens Foodstuff Group, Jiangxi Zhengbang Technology Co, and Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group are among the leading hog producers that BGG sells the offspring of its breeders to.

 

Despite this, BGG founder Monita Mo noted that company has suffered as a result of swine producers' recent large losses.

 

Due to rising feed costs and limited market as a result of COVID-19, China's hog producers have suffered unprecedented losses.

 

Another company's breeding farm has been told to reduce genomic selection in order to save money, according to its chief breeder, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

 

Fu Yan, a genetics professor at Zhejiang University, said China has far too many tiny breeding farms. He stated that major, publicly traded hog farmers who began breeding programmes in recent years may be better positioned to invest the enormous sums required to compete with overseas corporations.

 

Some experts say that China's quest to enhance the genetics of domestic swine is already so far behind that it is detracting from work on imported breeds.

 

The Meishan pig of China is known for its prolific litters, although it and dozens of others mature slowly and are too fatty.

 

-      Reuters