The Genetic Structure of Five Pig Breeds Maintained in Poland

The aim of this study was to evaluate genetic variability of five pig populations maintained in Poland with the usage of model based clustering method (MCMC approach) on microsatellite data. A high degree of genetic diversity with the values corrected for sample sizes was observed for four breeds: 0.740 for Polish Landrace, 0.697 for Pietrain, 0.692 for Polish Large White and 0.688 for Puławska. Duroc breed, however, was characterized by the lowest genetic diversity (0.589), allelic richness and number of effective alleles. As for Structure software results, each breed was represented by their own cluster while maintaining a possible small admixture of other breeds. The results obtained suggest a moderate gene flow between breeds, especially between Polish Landrace and Polish Large White has occurred. The lowest admixture was presented for Duroc breed, which confirms its high purity. The presented results can be used to study the structure and as a genetic information for the preservation and further genetic improvement of the pig breeds maintained in Poland. It seems also advisable to conduct further studies with a larger number of microsatellites and by analysis of mitochondrial DNA.