Hunan Black Pigs

Hunan Black Pigs

　　Hunan Black Pigs have entirely black coats. Their heads are of medium size, with ears of moderate size that tilt slightly forward, and slightly longer snouts. Their faces are flat, and their hooves are black. They have an elongated body without wrinkles, a straight back and waist, robust and relatively tall limbs, and well-rounded hindquarters. They possess more than 12 evenly spaced and effective teats, have a strong constitution, stable genetic traits, high fertility, and strong adaptability. Their production performance is mainly demonstrated as follows:

　　Rapid Growth and Development: For replacement pigs during the growth period, development is divided into two stages based on a weight of 50 kg: the early stage from 20 to 50 kg and the later stage from 50 to 85 kg. The nutritional level of feed is set at 12.55 MJ of digestible energy per kg in the early stage and 12.5 MJ per kg in the later stage, with 16% crude protein in the early stage and 14% in the later stage. At 6 months old, male pigs weigh 74.97 kg, with a body height of 64.78 cm, body length of 105.5 cm, chest circumference of 93.95 cm, abdominal circumference of 96.9 cm, and hip circumference of 72.81 cm. The average back fat thickness at three points is between 2.7 and 1.84 cm. Female pigs at 6 months weigh 74.79 kg, with a body height of 63.46 cm, body length of 104.42 cm, chest circumference of 95.05 cm, abdominal circumference of 103.93 cm, and hip circumference of 72.3 cm, with an average back fat thickness of 2.55 cm. Adult males weigh 180–230 kg, and females weigh 170–210 kg.

　　 High Fertility: Replacement pigs reach sexual maturity at 6 months old, with a weight of 85–95 kg and age of 7 months, making them ready for breeding. Purebred first-parity sows produce an average of 10.67 piglets per litter, with 10.07 live piglets, an average birth weight of 1 kg, a weaning weight of 63.9 kg at 35 days old, and a survival rate of 93% at 70 days. Multiparous sows produce an average of 13.47 piglets per litter, with 12.98 live piglets, an average birth weight of 1.12 kg, a weaning weight of 84 kg at 35 days old, and a survival rate of 94% at 70 days.

　　 Fattening Performance: Hunan Black Pigs exhibit good roughage tolerance and adaptability. Under the aforementioned nutritional levels of feed, the pigs reach 90 kg in 177 days during both the early and later fattening stages, with an average daily weight gain of 607 g, a feed-to-weight ratio of 3.4:1, an average slaughter rate of 73.4%, a carcass weight of 66.3 kg, a back fat thickness at three points of 1.4 cm, a loin eye area of 27.84 cm², a ham and leg proportion of 29.15%, a lean meat rate of 57.95%, and meat quality characterized by bright red color, rich marbling, 3.95% intramuscular fat, a pH of 6.3–6.4, a water loss rate of 13%–21%, a 24-hour drip loss of 4.19%, a 48-hour drip loss of 5.8%, a cooked meat rate of 68.2%, and no PSE or DFD meat. When using Hunan Black Pigs as dams and crossbreeding them with Yorkshire and Landrace boars, the resulting commercial pigs reach 90 kg in 167 days under the same nutritional conditions, with a feed-to-weight ratio of 3.25:1, a slaughter rate of 74.58% at 90 kg, an average back fat thickness at three points of 2.28–1.99 cm, a loin eye area of 19.64–31.57 cm², a ham and leg proportion of 29.62%–30.22%, and a carcass lean meat rate of 61.45%–62.21%. The meat quality is excellent, with no PSE or DFD meat. The crossbred litters produce 468 kg of lean meat, exceeding the target of 450 kg of lean meat per litter set by China’s Lean Pig New Breed and Strain Breeding Collaboration Group. The hybridization effect is significant.

　　 Since the start of its selective breeding, the Hunan Black Pig has gone through eight generations. Currently, there are 300 breeding sows in the core productive group and 800 sows in the reproductive group, with an annual supply capacity of over 10,000 pigs. This pig breed has been promoted in farms and rural areas across cities and provinces including Changde, Zhangjiajie, Huaihua, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, Shaoyang, Hengyang, Yiyang in Hunan Province, Yangjiang in Guangdong Province, as well as in Yunnan and Guizhou, totaling 18,000 pigs. It has contributed to the improvement of pig breeds and the development of lean pork production in Hunan and parts of southwestern China.