Abstract
Investigating the genetic and physiological drivers of postweaning residual feed intake (RFI) and finishing phase feed efficiency (FE) may identify underlying mechanisms that are responsible for the variation in these complex FE traits. The objectives were 1) to evaluate the relationship of serum IGF-I concentration and muscle gene expression with postweaning RFI and sire maintenance energy (MEM) EPD and 2) to determine fiber type composition as it relates to postweaning RFI and finishing phase FE. Results indicate that RFI and serum IGF-I concentration were not associated (P > 0.05); however, negative correlations (P <0.05) between sire MEM EPD and serum IGF-I concentration were observed. Gene expression differences between high-and low-RFI animals were observed in cohort 1, where IGFBP5 expression was greater (P <0.05) in high-RFI animals. When animals were grouped according to sire MEM EPD, the low MEM EPD group of cohort 1 showed greater muscle mRNA expression (P <0.01) of fatty acid synthase (FASN) and marginally (P <0.10) greater expression of IGFBP5 and C/EBP alpha (C/EBP alpha) whereas the high MEM EPD group of cohort 2 had greater muscle mRNA expression of IGFBP2 (P <0.05) and C/EBP alpha (P
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 5626-5636 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Journal of Animal Science |
Volume | 91 |
Issue number | 12 |
Early online date | Oct 2013 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2013 |