Livestock News & Views

A person’s ability to smell a steroid that contributes to boar taint depends on that person’s genetics, according to recent research out of Norway.

Researchers assembled a group of consumers and evaluated their ability to smell and taste androstenone, the steroid that contributes to boar taint. Consumers tried to detect the steroid’s smell in odour tests, and then assessed the odour and taste of meat that contained androstenone. Researchers found that all the consumers sensitive to the smell had the same genetic variation, which was related to an odour receptor.

Modern cattle are descended from a small herd domesticated in the Middle East about 10,500 years ago, according to recent genetics research.

Researchers extracted DNA from domestic cattle bones found at archeological sites. By examining the DNA of ancient and modern cattle, they traced taurine cattle to about 80 female aurochs. Taurine cattle include beef breeds like Herefords and Angus, and dairy breeds like Holsteins.

Ontario Pork recently cut funding to Enviropig, a genetically modified pig developed by the University of Guelph. Whether or not the pig will be commercialized remains to be seen.

Enviropig was developed over ten years ago as a way to make pork production more environmentally-friendly. Scientists inserted DNA snippets from a mouse and bacteria into a Yorkshire pig genome, allowing the pigs to produce an enzyme called phytase. This enzyme helps the pigs digest plant phosphorus, and leads to a 30 to 65 per cent cut in phosphorus in the manure, potentially leading to less surface water pollution.

Over the years, Ontario Pork has contributed more than $1 million to the project. A statement on Ontario Pork’s website implied that the research had run its course.

DNA technology promises to make food traceability more precise and reliable and boost consumer confidence, according an industry executive.

IdentiGEN’s DNA TraceBack allows the food industry to trace whole muscle cuts from the grocery store shelf to the individual animal. Genetic technology can help processors issue more targeted food safety recalls. Sturgeon Valley Pork, an Alberta processor, uses the technology to assure customers that their products are premium Alberta pork. DNA traceability can also be used for ground meat as long as reference samples from individual carcasses can be collected. But implementing DNA traceability for ground meat produced in large processing plants is more complex.

Scientists have discovered that a pig’s ability to withstand porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is closely tied to one genetic marker.

Researchers in the United States recently discovered a genetic marker on chromosome four that affects, to a large extent, the viral load and growth rate of pigs infected by PRRS. Pigs generating more viruses also gain less weight, and vice versa. The research was partially funded by the PRRS Host Genetics Consortium, an international group studying the disease’s genetics.

“First of all, that’s an exciting result because we didn’t necessarily expect to be able to see such a big impact. Normally, in some of these traits, we expect to see lots of regions of the genome explaining a small amount of variation, and then you have to trap all of them. But in this case, there is…a loci explaining enough variation that it should be interesting to go after that region and select for animals that are less susceptible to PRRS,” says Dr. Graham Plastow, CEO of Livestock Gentec. Plastow is one of the researchers working on the Canadian component of the consortium research.