A Bayesian marker-free segregation analysis was applied for the estimation of variance components and to search for evidence of segregation genes affecting two carcass traits: intramuscular fat (IMF), %, and backfat thickness (BF), mm ; and one growth trait: body weight gain (LG) from 25 to 90 kg, approximately, g/day. In this study, 1,257 animals from the F2 design produced by breeding among pigs Meishan (male) and Dutch Large White and Landrace lines (female) were used. In animal breeding, finite polygenic models (FPM) may be an alternative to the infinitesimal polygenic model (IPM) for genetic evaluation of populations with multiple-generations pedigree for quantitative traits. FPM, IPM and FPM combined with IPM were empirically tested for estimation of variance components and number of genes in FPM. Estimation of marginal posteriori means of variance components and parameters were performed by using Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques with the Gibbs sampler and the reversible Jump sampler (Metropolis-Hastings). The results showed evidence for four Major Genes (MG), i.e., two for IMF and two BF. For BF, the MG explained almost all of genetic variance, while for IMF, MG reduced the polygenic variance significantly. The LG was not likely influenced by MG. The polygenic heritability estimates for IMF, BF and LG were 0.37, 0.24 and 0.37, respectively. Further molecular genetic research, based on the same experimental data, aiming to map the major genes estimated for IMF and BF has a high probability of success.
backfat thickness; bayesian inference; finite and infinitesimal models; intramuscular fat; body weight gain
