Farms.com interviewed Steve Jungst, PIC Performance Validation Manager, Technical Operations, and other members of the PIC Performance Validation team, to learn more about how PIC designs, executes and communicates the results from commercial product evaluation trials. The Product Validation team is responsible for generating “performance proof ” results of PIC products, through comparison trials with competitors’ products, as well as internal trials supporting new product development.
The following discussion provides some insight as to the important and timely work provided by the team.
How long has the Product Validation team been established?
The team was established in May 2004 by combining key Research and Development personnel from the Genetic Development department, with the Technical Services department. This department was simultaneously restructured and incorporated into the Technical Operations department. PIC has been evaluating the performance of its products and those of key competitors since the mid-1980s, although an official Product Validation team was not structured at the time.
How have the specifications for a “good product” changed over the years?
As the industry has matured from “raising and marketing pigs” to the packers (i.e. live weight-based pig marketing); to more sophisticated integrated production and processing cost/benefit systems, the requests for evaluating
more traits in commercial performance validation trials have also increased. Carcass lean percentage became important, along with growth rate and feed conversion in the 1990s. In the mid- to late-1990s, when the industry recognized additional value could be gained by exporting pork to other regions of the world, loin meat quality became an important economic trait and was also included in the performance validation trials. Today, issues such as the number of full-value pigs marketed and sow longevity in the herd are important, and these traits are being evaluated in the performance validation trials.
Who serves on the Product Validation team?
Representatives from a cross-section of the company are included on the committee to capitalize on the vast expertise and experience of the resources within PIC, including experts in genetics, meat science, muscle biology, nutrition and animal health. The committee meets monthly to review the progress of current research trials and to discuss new trials that should be set up to provide tools to demonstrate the value of PIC products. Several of the committee members work with customers on a daily basis and can offer suggestions of timely research projects that will be beneficial to PIC customers and PIC.
How long do the trials run, and how many trials are ongoing at any given time?
The length of the research trials depends on the objective of the trials and the available facilities where the trials are conducted. Grow-finish trials could be as short as four months in duration, if the pigs are purchased as feeder pigs. Other trials may be three to five years in length, for example, to evaluate reproductive performance of potential new commercial sow products. Sow reproductive performance is validated over a minimum of five parities and often requires one to two years of multiplication to produce the correct genotypes before the trial can actually begin. In FY2005-06, approximately 19 new research trials will be set up. Typically, 20 to 25 trials are in progress at any time.
How have your trials helped to demonstrate the benefits of PIC breeding stock?
Several trials have been fundamental in demonstrating the value of our products to customers. In 2000, a grow-finish trial was set to evaluate the effects of a gene that was involved in the regulation of appetite. This gene, which was coded by PIC as PT1, was the first gene PIC discovered that directly affected growth, feed intake, feed conversion, and carcass leanness. PT1 is now available in the PIC280M, PIC337G, and PIC408 sire lines.
To further aid in the discovery of new genetic markers, a trial was initiated to evaluate growth, carcass composition, and loin meat quality in PIC280M, PIC327L, and PIC337G sired pigs. About 960 loins from the pigs produced in this trial were delivered to the University of Illinois for detailed loin meat quality evaluations that included ultimate pH, purge and drip loss, shear force, cooking loss percentage, intra-muscular fat percentage and sensory evaluations for tenderness, juiciness and flavor. The data collected in this trial continues to play an important role in the discovery and initial validation of new genetic markers associated with meat quality. Many of the genes validated using this data set are now included in the PIC280M and PIC337G products and in several custom sire line programs. Tissue samples for DNA extraction are collected in all PIC research trials and we continue to add more pigs to the database that is used for Sygen’s genetic marker discovery and validation.
Editor’s Note: This commentary is sponsored by PIC and first appeared in PIC’s magazine, The Profit Improver. The continuation of this discussion will appear in Part Two next week. For more information on genetic improvement, go to www.pic.com
This commentary is for informational purposes only. The opinions and comments expressed herein represent the opinions of the author--they do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Farms.com. This commentary is not intended to provide individual advice to anyone. Farms.com will not be liable for any errors or omissions in the information, or for any damages or losses in any way related to this commentary.