Abstract
In the present study, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and meat quality traits on animals from a commercial Duroc sire line were assessed, aiming to identify phenotypic and genetic variation within this line. In addition, it was assessed if a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy-based blood metabolite profile obtained from a blood sample taken at the end of the performance test could be used as an indicator for meat quality prior to slaughter. The results of the genetic analysis showed that the eight meat quality traits were lowly to moderately heritable: pH (0.41), meat color Minolta L* (0.24), Minolta a* (0.19), and Minolta b* (0.24), myofibril fragmentation index (0.10), intramuscular fat (0.16), Warner-Bratzler shear force (0.14) and cooking loss (0.10). A genome-wide association study (GWAS) showed that 2 SNP markers marked a quantitative trait locus (QTL) segregating on SSC2 for cooking loss (false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.10), while no QTL were discovered for the other meat quality traits. The NMR-based metabolome could explain part of the total variance for traits Minolta L* (0.11) and Log10(MFI) (0.31), respectively. However, when accounting for the contemporary environment, the blood metabolome profiles explained almost no variance for any of the meat quality traits measured in this study, and therefore, the blood metabolite profile is not a good indicator trait for meat quality in this Duroc sire line.