What are the main breeds of China's outstanding local pig breeds?

  (1) New Taihu Pig

  1. Origin and distribution: native to the Taihu Lake basin.

  2. Constitution and appearance: the New Taihu Pig is slightly larger than the old Taihu Pig, with a large head and broad forehead, obvious wrinkles on the forehead and hindquarters, extremely large ears that are soft and drooping, nearly triangular in shape, a slightly concave back and loin, a relatively deep chest, a large and drooping belly, broad and sloping hindquarters, slightly long legs, sitting hocks and splayed hooves, and a completely black coat color. Some have white on the four hooves and tail tip, and the teats are generally 8 to 9 pairs.

  3. Production performance: the New Taihu Pig farrows many piglets, with multiparous sows averaging more than 14 piglets per litter, fast growth rate, daily gain of more than 650 grams, lean meat percentage of more than 56%, and high feed conversion, reaching 3.0:1.

  Crossbreeding utilization: the New Taihu Pig has the excellent and high-yielding performance of Chinese pig breeds and, when crossed with foreign pig breeds, can show excellent production performance, making it an ideal hybrid foundation for producing commercial lean-type pigs.

  (2) Two-End Black Pig

  1. Origin and distribution: produced in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the plains and lake areas and hilly zones south of the Yangtze River.

  2. Constitution and appearance: the Central China Two-End Black Pig has a white trunk and limbs, and a black head, neck, hindquarters and tail; the head is short and broad, the forehead wrinkles are mostly diamond-shaped, and those with thick and deep forehead wrinkles are called Lion Head; the teats are generally 6 to 7 pairs.

  3. Production performance: the Ganxi Two-End Black Pig and Tongcheng Pig are smaller, while the Dongshan and Jianli Pigs are larger. Fattening Two-End Black Pigs can reach a body weight of 80 kg at 8 months of age, with a dressing percentage of 71% and a carcass lean meat percentage of 41% to 44%.

  Crossbreeding utilization: the Two-End Black Pig matures sexually early, has stable heredity and strong reproductive capacity, and is an excellent female parent for economic crossbreeding.

  (3) Min Pig

  1. Origin and distribution: native to Northeast China and North China.

  2. Constitution and appearance: the Min Pig has a medium-sized head, a straight and long face, longitudinal head wrinkles, large drooping ears, a flat body, a narrow back and loin, sloping hindquarters, sturdy limbs, a completely black coat, and 7 to 8 pairs of teats.

  3. Production performance: the Min Pig has the characteristics of high reproductive performance and a large number of piglets born, with an average of 11 piglets in the first litter and 12 to 14 piglets for multiparous sows. The lean meat percentage is more than 47.6%.

  4. Crossbreeding utilization: using the Min Pig as the female parent for two-way and three-way crosses with breeds such as Landrace, Large White and Duroc can achieve relatively good crossbreeding results.

  (4) Neijiang Pig

  1. Origin and distribution: produced in Neijiang City and Neijiang County in Sichuan Province.

  2. Constitution and appearance: large body type, large head, short snout, deep sunken horizontal wrinkles on the forehead forming grooves, and the middle of the forehead skin raised into a block, commonly known as the "covered bowl." The ears are medium-sized and drooping, the body is broad and deep, the back and loin are slightly concave, the belly is large but does not drag on the ground, the limbs are relatively sturdy, the coat is completely black, and there are 6 to 7 pairs of teats.

  3. Production performance: the Neijiang Pig has a daily gain of about 410 grams and a dressing percentage of about 67.5%. Mating begins at 5 to 6 months of age, and sows give birth to 9 to 10 piglets.

  4. Crossbreeding utilization: using the Neijiang Pig as the male parent and crossing it with Landrace and Large Yorkshire pig breeds, the first-generation crossbred pigs show obvious advantages in daily gain rate and exhibit good production performance.

  (5) New Huainan Pig

  1. Origin and distribution: produced in the areas south of the Huai River in Tongshi, Shangcheng, Luoshan, Xinxian, Guangshan, Xinyang and Huaibin.

  2. Constitution and appearance: according to head shape, it can be roughly divided into two types: the "even-mouth large-ear type" and the "pointed-mouth small-ear type." The even-mouth large-ear type is commonly known as "three mouths" or "three mouths falling into the trough." It has a medium body type and black skin and hair. The ears are large and drooping, the forehead is relatively broad, the mouth is slightly short and thick, and the forehead mostly has two straight horizontal wrinkles; the belly is large and drooping but does not touch the ground, the hindquarters are sloping, and the rear body is not full enough.

  3. Production performance: after breeding selection, Huainan boars have strong libido and strong mating ability; sows have 8 to 10 pairs of teats, first mate at 5 to 6 months of age, produce 2.2 to 2.5 litters per year, and give birth to 12 to 14 piglets per litter.

  4. Crossbreeding utilization: using the New Huainan Pig as the female parent to cross with introduced foreign lean-type pig breeds gives relatively good results.