In order to locate the genetic regions in the swine genome that are responsiblefor economically important traits, a resource population has been constructed bymating two female Meishan pigs with a male Gottingen miniature pig. Insubsequent generations, 265 F2 offspring were produced from two F1 males and 19F1 females. The F2 offspring were scored for eight traits including growth rate,teat number, vertebra number and backfat thickness, and genotyped for 318genetic markers spanning the swine genome. Least-square analysis revealedquantitative trait loci (QTL) effects for vertebra number on chromosomes 1 and2; for teat number on chromosomes 1 and 7; for birth weight on chromosome 1; foraverage daily gain between 4 and 13 weeks of age on chromosomes 9 and 10; forbackfat thickness on chromosome 7; and for backskin thickness on chromosome 3.