Summary NAMPT encodes an enzyme catalysing the rate‐limiting step in NAD biosynthesis. The extracellular form of the enzyme is known as adipokine visfatin. We detected SNP AM999341:g.669T>C (referred to as 669T>C) in intron 9 and SNP FN392209:g.358A>G (referred to as 358A>G) in the promoter of the gene. RH mapping linked the gene to microsatellite SW944. Linkage analysis placed the gene on the current USDA – USMARC linkage map at position 92 cM on SSC9. Association analyses were performed in a wild boar × Meishan F2 family (W × M), with 45 traits recorded (growth and fattening, fat deposition, muscling, meat quality, stress resistance and other traits), and in a commercial Landrace × Chinese‐European (LCE) synthetic population with records for 15 traits (growth, fat deposition, muscling, intramuscular fat, meat colour and backfat fatty acid content). In the W × M, SNP 669T>C was associated with muscling, fat deposition, growth and fattening, meat quality and other traits and in the LCE with muscling, meat quality and backfat fatty acid composition. In the W × M, SNP 358A>G was associated with muscling, fat deposition, growth and other traits. After correction for multiple testing, the NAMPT haplotypes were associated in the W × M with, in descending order, muscling (q = 0.0056), growth (q = 0.0056), fat deposition (q = 0.0109), fat‐to‐meat ratio (q = 0.0135), cooling losses (q = 0.0568) and longissimus pHU (q = 0.0695). The SNPs are hypothesized to be in linkage disequilibrium with a causative mutation affecting energy metabolism as a whole rather than fat metabolism alone.