Concentrations of Boar Taint Compounds Are Weakly Associated with Sexual Behavior of Young Boars
Strategies to control boar taint (BT) in meat relies on the reduction of skatole, indole, and androstenone concentration. This might have unfavorable effects on the libido of breeding boars. The association between BT compound concentration in backfat and libido was investigated in 391 commercial br...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Animals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/12/1499 |
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| author | Elena Boschi Sara Faggion Chiara Mondin Paolo Carnier Valentina Bonfatti |
| author_facet | Elena Boschi Sara Faggion Chiara Mondin Paolo Carnier Valentina Bonfatti |
| author_sort | Elena Boschi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Strategies to control boar taint (BT) in meat relies on the reduction of skatole, indole, and androstenone concentration. This might have unfavorable effects on the libido of breeding boars. The association between BT compound concentration in backfat and libido was investigated in 391 commercial breeding boars. Six sexual behavior traits (SBT; sexual arousal, salivation, mounting performance, interest in the dummy sow, penis unsheathing, and overall libido score) were scored during the training of the boars with the dummy sow. Variation in SBT was analyzed by proportional-odds cumulative logistic models. Overall, indole, skatole, and androstenone concentrations were weakly associated with libido. Farm of origin, age at training or body weight, and BT compound levels were poor predictors of boar performance (the area under the ROC curve ranged from 0.60 to 0.69). This indicates that BT compound concentrations were weakly associated with libido, even though the probability of observing good SBT scores increased with high levels of androstenone, intermediate or low levels of skatole, and intermediate to high levels of indole. Hence, practices aiming at reducing androstenone, and controlling the concentrations of skatole and indole to intermediate levels are not expected to impair the libido of young boars. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T00:37:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2ed64322262546f2921026dec17219f0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T00:37:06Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj.art-2ed64322262546f2921026dec17219f02023-11-23T15:14:07ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152022-06-011212149910.3390/ani12121499Concentrations of Boar Taint Compounds Are Weakly Associated with Sexual Behavior of Young BoarsElena Boschi0Sara Faggion1Chiara Mondin2Paolo Carnier3Valentina Bonfatti4Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padova, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, ItalyDepartment of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padova, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, ItalyDepartment of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padova, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, ItalyDepartment of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padova, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, ItalyDepartment of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padova, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, ItalyStrategies to control boar taint (BT) in meat relies on the reduction of skatole, indole, and androstenone concentration. This might have unfavorable effects on the libido of breeding boars. The association between BT compound concentration in backfat and libido was investigated in 391 commercial breeding boars. Six sexual behavior traits (SBT; sexual arousal, salivation, mounting performance, interest in the dummy sow, penis unsheathing, and overall libido score) were scored during the training of the boars with the dummy sow. Variation in SBT was analyzed by proportional-odds cumulative logistic models. Overall, indole, skatole, and androstenone concentrations were weakly associated with libido. Farm of origin, age at training or body weight, and BT compound levels were poor predictors of boar performance (the area under the ROC curve ranged from 0.60 to 0.69). This indicates that BT compound concentrations were weakly associated with libido, even though the probability of observing good SBT scores increased with high levels of androstenone, intermediate or low levels of skatole, and intermediate to high levels of indole. Hence, practices aiming at reducing androstenone, and controlling the concentrations of skatole and indole to intermediate levels are not expected to impair the libido of young boars.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/12/1499pigslibidoindoleskatoleandrostenone |
| spellingShingle | Elena Boschi Sara Faggion Chiara Mondin Paolo Carnier Valentina Bonfatti Concentrations of Boar Taint Compounds Are Weakly Associated with Sexual Behavior of Young Boars Animals pigs libido indole skatole androstenone |
| title | Concentrations of Boar Taint Compounds Are Weakly Associated with Sexual Behavior of Young Boars |
| title_full | Concentrations of Boar Taint Compounds Are Weakly Associated with Sexual Behavior of Young Boars |
| title_fullStr | Concentrations of Boar Taint Compounds Are Weakly Associated with Sexual Behavior of Young Boars |
| title_full_unstemmed | Concentrations of Boar Taint Compounds Are Weakly Associated with Sexual Behavior of Young Boars |
| title_short | Concentrations of Boar Taint Compounds Are Weakly Associated with Sexual Behavior of Young Boars |
| title_sort | concentrations of boar taint compounds are weakly associated with sexual behavior of young boars |
| topic | pigs libido indole skatole androstenone |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/12/1499 |
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