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Mangalitsa & Science

Mangalitsa Breed Science

Scientific  Studies

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Background of the study:

Mangalica breeds are indigenous to Hungary and their breeding history dates back to about 200–250 years ago. They are fat-type pigs and have a rare curly hair phenotype. The aim of our study was to establish the relationships between these unique breeds and other European breeds

Background of the study:

The genetic relationships among the indigenous Hungarian Mangalica swine breeds in farms at different geographical locations have been studied by ten microsatellite markers (S0005, S0090, S0101, S0155, S0355, S0386, SW24, SW240, SW857, SW951), in order to characterise the population and to give sound scientific basis for management practices. The work hypothesis - that Mangalica individuals form just one unpartitioned population - has been rejected. The estimated value of clusters in population is three and it is in content with the history of the breeds. The estimated distances (Ds, Da, Fst) were the smallest between Swallow-Belly and Blond, while the Red showed the largest genetic distance from the previous two breeds. This approach proves the existence of distinct populations and can be used for assignment of individuals with high probability value (in the range from 0.83 to 0.91) to the different Mangalica breeds if required. 

Background of the study:

Nowadays there is an increased demand to preserve the biological diversity in wild and farm animals. In this paper the history, utilisation and reproductive performance of the endangered native Hungarian swine breed Mangalica are reviewed. This fat-type race was the most typical since the middle of the nineteenth century. However, Mangalica nearly disappeared in the 1970-ies due to changing dietary habits and breeding of modern industrial pig breeds. The valuable characteristics of Mangalica, like resistance and excellent adaptability to extreme housing conditions, motherliness and delicious meat taste are recognised anew. 

Estimating breed composition for pigs: A case study focused on Mangalitsa pigs and two methods

Josue Chinchilla-Vargas, Francesca Bertolini, K. Stalder, J. Steibel, Max Rothschild .

Here a link to the same study but with all the diagrams: Scientific paper & diagrams

Available online 9 January 2021

Background

Breed associations and registries maintain breed purity by enforcing certain conformational characteristics defining the breed along with cataloging the pedigree of every animal in the registry. Furthermore, developing niche markets is often based on specialized products using heritage breeds that need to guarantee breed purity. Genomic technology and the progressively lower costs of genotyping can be helpful when assessing breed purity by estimating breed composition. In this research, genotypes from 648 pigs and 11 breeds were used to develop marker panels to estimate breed composition with special emphasis on Mangalitsa pigs as a heritage breed.

 

Note: The study used two methods, but non of them was accurate enough to determine the purity of the Mangalitsa breed in pigs without known lineage.

 

Way more samples of the Mangalitsa and other US heritage breeds will be needed to develop an accurate test that could be used to proof if a pig without known lineage, is a Pure Mangalitsa.

Genome sequencing and analysis of Mangalica, a fatty local pig of Hungary, 

Authors: János Molnár, Tibor Nagy, Viktor Stéger, Gábor Tóth, Ferenc Marincs, Endre Bata János MolnárTibor Nagy

Background

Mangalicas are fatty type local/rare pig breeds with an increasing presence in the niche pork market in Hungary and in other countries. To explore their genetic resources, we have analysed data from next-generation sequencing of an individual male from each of three Mangalica breeds along with a local male Duroc pig. Structural variations, such as SNPs, INDELs and CNVs, were identified and particular genes with SNP variations were analysed with special emphasis on functions related to fat metabolism in pigs.

Phylogenetic Relationships of the Mangalitsa Swine Breed Inferred from Mitochondrial DNA Variation

Sergiu Emil Georgescu, Maria Adina Manea, Andreea Dudu and Marieta Costache 

Abstract: The Mangalitsa pig, a swine breed belonging to the protected gene fund of original and primitive animal breeds of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), has been known to inhabit Romanian territories since the 19th century. The aim of this study was to compare the Mangalitsa breed with several European and Asiatic swine breeds in order to emphasize its uniqueness and to elucidate its origin. For this purpose, we analyzed a 613 bp mitochondrial DNA D-loop fragment and 1140 bp of the cytochrome b gene in a population of Mangalitsa pigs and the polymorphic sites were compared with sequences from GenBank originating from other swine breeds. Taking into account the total of 24 breeds and 5 different Wild Boar populations analyzed, 86 polymorphic sites representing 32 haplotypes were observed, with an average percentage of polymorphic sites of 4.9%. Three Neighbor-Joining phylogenetic trees were constructed based on Kimura 2-parameter distances, using D-loop, cytochrome b and mitochondrial reunited sequences. For the analyzed Mangalitsa population, four distinct haplotypes were identified, including one that was common to other breeds. Our study suggests that the Mangalitsa swine originate from primitive breeds which might be directly derived from the Wild Boar. 

Introgression and isolation contributed to the development of Hungarian Mangalica pigs from a particular European ancient bloodline

Ferenc Marincs1*, János Molnár2,3, Gábor Tóth1,4, Viktor Stéger1 and Endre Barta1 

Abstract

Background: Mangalica breeds are indigenous to Hungary and their breeding history dates back to about 200–250 years ago. They are fat-type pigs and have a rare curly hair phenotype. The aim of our study was to establish the relationships between these unique breeds and other European breeds.

Conclusions: In all the Mangalica individuals, a unique ancient European signature was found in the mitochondrial DNA D-loop region, but they belonged almost exclusively to either certain very abundant European or two Mangalica-specific D-loop haplotypes. This indicates that the present-day Mangalica population in Hungary evolved either by introgression of other European breeds and wild boars or via total isolation after the divergence of European ancient porcine bloodlines. 

Abstract:

The mitogenomes of one animal of each of the three Mangalica breeds, Blonde, Red, and Swallow-belly were assembled from reads obtained by Next Generation Sequencing of the three genomes. Features of the mitogenomes were identical in the three breeds, apart from a second tRNA-Val gene on the L strand in Swallow-belly. Phylogenetic comparison of the three mitogenomes with 112 full mtDNA sequences clearly put Mangalicas into the European clade. Comparing the mitogenome of eight Mangalica animals revealed particular differences between them. The mitogenome of some Mangalicas was closely related to the Croatian Turopolje breed and this indicates either the common origin of their maternal lineages or admixture of some populations of the breeds. However, the origin of the mitoge- nome of certain purebred Mangalicas kept in the Hungarian Mangalica Gene Reserve still remains unknown. 

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to examine the growth potential of indigenous pig breeds Mangalitsa (swallow bellied; n=12) and Moravka (n=10). Th e investigation included male castrates (surgical). Pigs were transferred from diff erent farms to the institute's stable where pigs were housed. Th e fattening period started at an average weight of 24.3 kg and 173.1 days of age for Mangalitsa pigs and 29.9 and 170.8 days for Moravka pigs, respectively and fi nished at average weight of 115.5 kg and 357 days of age for Mangalitsa pigs and 131.3 kg and 363 days for Moravka pigs, respectively. During observation study Moravka pigs had 13% higher (but not signifi cantly) growth rate than Mangalitsa breed (545 vs. 480 g/day, P=0.22). Th e maximal growth rate observed for Mangalitsa was 690 g and for Moravka 607 g in the period corresponding to average body weight (end of period) of 79 and 89 kg, respectively. Initial (at start of the study) diff erence in growth rate between Mangalitsa and Moravka was propagated along the study duration resulting in signifi cant diff erence in body weight at slaughter (P<0.05).
 

We report a comprehensive analysis of genetic variation and population genetic structure based on a panel of candidate genes in a wide panel of European local pig breeds. Results are in agreement with known facts of the breeds’ origin and their phenotype. A clear genetic dif- ferentiation and intra-breed homogeneity was observed in some cases, while other breeds showed a high degree of admixture.  

We aimed to analyse the genetic diversity of Romanian wild boars and to compare it with that from other wild boar and pig populations from Europe and Asia. Partial sequencing of the mitochondrial encoded cytochrome b (MT-CYB) gene from 36 Romanian wild boars and 36 domestic pigs (Mangalitza, Bazna and Vietnamese breeds) showed that the diversity of Romanian wild boars and Mangalitza pigs
is fairly reduced, and that most of the members of these two populations share a common MT-CYB haplotype. Besides, in strong contrast with the Bazna animals, Romanian wild boars and Mangalitza swine did not carry Asian variants at the MT-CYB locus. 

More Studies will be added in the future

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