Innovation Interview: GENOMREPIG, AGROCAT´s genetic solution
We had the chance to interview Ignasi Hontecillas, R&D Quality and Food Safety Director of AGROCAT, a Catalan cooperative that leads the GENOMREPIG project, focused on improving the genetic resilience of pigs against PRRSV (Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome), one of the most devastating diseases in the sector.
1. What specific problem in the agri-food sector does your project address and what makes your solution innovative?
In Catalonia, outbreaks of respiratory disease are very common in fattening pig farms, particularly during autumn and winter, and affect both animal health and farm productivity. One of the infectious agents with the most serious economic consequences is porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV). PRRSV infection reduces growth and increases mortality of pigs in fattening farms and alters the reproductive parameters of mother farms by increasing the number of abortions and the number of piglets dead at birth. Because of the high mutation rate of this virus, it is currently not possible to control this disease with vaccines. On the other hand, farm biosecurity measures have proven insufficient to curb the spread of outbreaks, particularly with the highly pathogenic strains detected in Catalonia since 2021.
Therefore, it is necessary to innovate new tools to control respiratory outbreaks in swine. In this sense, the selection of pigs with an inherent ability to cope with these stressors has been proposed as a sustainable strategy that can complement advances in farm health management. Selection for infection-resilient pigs facilitates farm management, reduces veterinary costs and antimicrobial use, and also reduces end-of-fattening weight variability.
2. What impact do you expect this project to have on the market or on the sustainability of the agricultural value chain?
The ultimate goal of this collaboration is to improve farm sustainability through genetic markers that promote the survival of fattening pigs and prevent reproductive failure in sows due to PRRSV outbreaks. Validated genetic markers that improve the resilience of pigs to PRRSV infections would allow progress toward more sustainable production that is more aligned with animal welfare. Once optimized, genotyping in the parental line is relatively simple and cost-effective.
3. What would you highlight about Evolution Europe’s strategic or technical support during its collaboration with you for the preparation of the proposal?
Compared to other consultants, Evolution Europe’s staff demonstrated an extraordinary ability to understand both the business problem (and its large-scale consequences) and the magnitude of the scientific work on which the proposal was based. The technicians provided a critical view on the implementation possibilities and a constructive view on the technical limitations, which significantly improved the original proposal.
4. What specific problem in the agri-food sector does your project address and what makes your solution innovative?
AGROCAT, in collaboration with the University of Lleida, has developed the GENOMREPIG project – to investigate and develop a selection strategy for resilient animals based on genetic markers, focusing on improving the sustainability of pig production.
Several studies have demonstrated the role of host genetic variability in the outcome of PRRSV infection in both the respiratory form in growing pigs and pregnant sows. Taken together, the data collected by these studies indicate the potential for the use of genetic selection to improve sow resistance under the challenge of a PRRSV outbreak.
In this field, the University of Lleida, and specifically the group led by Dr. Lorenzo Fraile and Dr. Romi Pena, within the Department of Animal Science, is one of the reference centers in the study of genetic markers associated with resilience in pigs. Thus, this research group has achieved in recent years the identification of promising candidate markers of resistance to viral infections such as PRRSV.
5. What are the next milestones of this project and how is Agrocat preparing for them?
The objective set by Agrocat’s technical department is the application of the conclusions obtained in our day to day on farms. The success of the project would mean the identification, validation and implementation of new genetic markers of resilience in the selection programs at the level of great-grandmothers and grandmothers, as well as for mother multiplier farms and fattening farms, which will improve animal welfare, reduce economic losses for farmers due to the occurrence of disease outbreaks such as PRRSV, resulting in a clear increase in productivity, an improvement in the environment by increasing the sustainability and efficiency of production farms and a reduction in the use of therapeutic treatments, representing a clear substantial improvement both for our associates, thus contributing to the viability of the family business in Catalonia through the added value provided by our products and services, and for the pig sector as a whole.
