| Summary: | The main goals in pig breeding have for many years been to improve growth rate, feedconversion and carcass composition. There have been less efforts to improve meat qualityparameters (WHC, pH, tenderness, colour etc.) but the main contribution has been areduction of stress susceptibility and PSE meat. Unfortunately, the quantitative geneticapproach has yielded few clues regarding the fundamental genetic changes that accompaniedthe selection of animal for superior carcass attributes. While mapping efforts are makingsignificant major effects on carcass and his quality composition DNA test would be availableto detect some positive or negative alleles. There are clear breed effects on meat quality,which in some cases are fully related to the presence of a single gene with major effect (RYR1,MYF4, H-FABP, LEPR, IGF2). Molecular biology methods provides excellent opportunitiesto improve meat quality in selection schemes within breeds and lines. Selection on majorgenes will not only increase average levels of quality but also decrease variability (ei increaseuniformity). The aim of this paper is to discuss there genetic and non-genetic opportunities.
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