Genetic studies on the litter traits of crossbred pigs with 50 and 75 per cent hampshire inheritance*

Records on litter traits belonging to a total 237 halfbred inter se (l/2 Hampshire 1/2 Indigenous) and 244 graded inter se pigs (% Hampshire % Indigenous) over a period of 18 years from 1988 to 2005 constituted the material for the study. Pigs were born, maintained and bred at the All India Coordinated Research Project on Pigs, Assam Agricultural University, Khanapara, Guwahati. The heritability values as estimated by paternal half-sib correlation were 0.188±0.108, 0.273±0.190, 0.232±0.109 and 0.245±0.109 respectively for litter size at birth, litter weight at birth, litter size at weaning and litter weight at weaning in halfbred inter se pigs and corresponding values for graded pigs were found to be 0.116±0.084, 0.225±0.086, 0.148±0.086 and 0.275±0.088 respectively. High and positive phenotypic correlation (r_p) and genetic correlation (r_G) among the litter traits in the study were found in both halfbred inter se and graded inter se pigs.