The potential use of the Belgian Landrace and Pietrain breeds in Thailand

Abstract

Pig breeding is an important sector of the Thai Agriculture and Thailand could become a leading exporter of pigs and pork products. Large scale units are numerous ; they grow pigs, sell the feed and piglets to small farms. To improve the productive and reproductive traits, crossbreeding is a common practice and due to the development of a conformation scale, a financial advantage is observed for pigs of higher quality. Due to their frequency of high conformation grades, Pietrain and Belgian Landrace are to be recommanded in a national pig breeding program in Thailand.