A young scientist from DonSAU’s project to improve pork quality won the Science of the Future competition

Postgraduate student of Donskoy SAU Elena Romanets won the All-Russian scientific research competition among students and postgraduates "Science of the Future" with her genomic project.

The victory was awarded in the nomination "Agro-, Bio- and Food Technologies". The young scientist is engaged in research that will influence the efficiency of production and the quality of pork, and presented her work "Identification of genetic variants associated with the weight of a piglet at birth and determination of their relationship with the number of piglets at birth" for the competition.

The conducted studies revealed 17 genetic variants and 6 promising candidate genes in Large White pigs associated with the weight of piglets at birth and not having a negative effect on their number. Based on the discovered genes, it is planned to create innovative test systems for identifying multi-fertility pigs with large-fruited piglets, - says Elena Romanets.

According to her, the use of such test systems will significantly increase the efficiency of pig farms.

In 2023, the scientific forum was held within the framework of the federal project "Popularization of Science and Technology", the organizer of the events was the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

More than 3 thousand applications from all regions of RUSSIA were received for the preliminary stage of the competition, about 300 young scientists took part in the final part. Prizes were awarded to 60 winners.