The swine industry is the second largest contributor to the Philippines agricultural

sector coming in next to rice. Swine population inventory in 2016 stood at 12.5 million
heads. In the same year the swine industry contributes about P206 billion to GVA in
agriculture, which was derived from the total volume of production estimated at 2,120.33
thousand metric tons of hog liveweight. The industry contributes 12 percent of the
countrys total value of agricultural production.
In addition to its contribution to agricultural production and food security, the swine
industry also supports allied industries that provide employment and business
opportunities to millions of Filipinos.
Among the local animal industries, the swine industry is considered as the most
organized and the highest adopter of updated technologies. The application of technologies
in feeding, housing and management and disease prevention and control resulted to
significant improvement in swine growth and production performance. Yet, overall
production efficiency still lags behind major swine producing countries due to low
reproductive performance. Genetic improvement is slow through conventional methods
due to the fact that reproductive traits are lowly heritable and are expressed late in life.
The development of molecular methods of identifying genetic markers provided
opportunity for breeders to hasten the rate of genetic improvement in conjunction with
conventional method of culling and selection. The use of genetic markers associated with
economically important traits had been tried in other countries and has resulted in positive
results to their industry.
An R&D program was successfully implemented by PCC in 2012 in partnership with the
Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) and with the Accredited Swine Breeders Association of the
Philippines (ASBAP). The program has developed and initially promoted application of
genetic markers in the breeding and selection of pigs in local breeder swine farms.
Significant accomplishment of the program was the establishment of 17 gene marker
protocols for genetic testing of swine and the establishment of the swine genetic analytical
service laboratory (SGASL). Preliminary estimate of the effect of favorable genotypes of
genes related to reproduction through an association analysis of marker with phenotype
indicates an additional of 0.5 1 piglet per sow per farrowing and the reduction in farrowing
interval equivalent to a 3.5% increase in farrowing index among sows carrying the favorable
allele of the leukocyte inhibitory factor (LIF) gene. With such positive result, the swine
industry benefitted from the wider testing of breeder animals as an additional information
in mating/selection and policy decisions. The use of the available technology (molecular
selection) at the SGASL was promoted to nucleus and commercial herds to maximize the
benefit that can be derived from the use of the technology. Then, a follow through project
was proposed to widen the application and promotion of the gene marker thru the
operationalization of the SGASL and to hasten the genetic improvement in local breeder
and commercial farm units. Activities pursued under the proposed R&D project involves
promoting the adoption and utilization of the genetic testing technology at wider scale by
the swine raisers. This included an expanded association analysis to include more traits and
genes in the study. To ensure access of genetic evaluation services by swine breeder and
commercial farms, a commercial genomic laboratory was already established and currently
being operated and managed by the Accredited Swine Breeder Farm Association of the
Philippines (ASBAP), Inc. in coordination with the PCC and BAI.