Western and indigenous Chinese pig breeds show obvious differences in muscle growth and meat quality, however, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the breed-specific mechanisms controlling meat quality and postmortem muscle metabolism. The specific purpose was to investigate the variations in meat quality, muscle fiber type, and enzyme activity between local Jinhua and exotic Landrace pigs at the same age (180 d of age), as well as the same BW of 64 kg, respectively. We compared differentially expressed muscle fiber types such as types I and IIa (oxidative), type IIb (glycolytic), as well as type IIx (intermediate) fibers in LM and soleus muscles of Jinhua and Landrace pigs using real-time reverse-transcription PCR. Furthermore, the metabolic enzyme activities of lactate dehydrogenase, as well as succinic dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase, were used as markers of glycolytic and oxidative capacities, respectively. Results showed that Jinhua pigs exhibited greater intramuscular fat content and less drip loss compared with the Landrace (P < 0.01). Meanwhile, the mRNA abundance of oxidative and intermediate fibers was increased in Jinhua pigs, whereas the glycolytic fibers were more highly expressed in the Landrace (P < 0.01). In addition, Jinhua pigs possessed greater oxidative capacity than that of the Landrace (P < 0.05). These results suggested that the increased expression of the oxidative and intermediate fibers and greater activities of oxidative enzymes in Jinhua pigs were related to meat quality as indicated by a greater intramuscular fat and reduced drip loss. Based on these results, we conclude that muscle fiber composition and postmortem muscle metabolism can explain, in part, the variation of meat quality in Jinhua and Landrace pigs. These results may provide valuable information for understanding the molecular mechanism responsible for breed specific differences in growth performance and meat quality.

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In order to explain the mechanism of high meat quality in Laiwu pigs and investigate the relation between myosin heavy chains (MyHC) composition and meat quality, meat quality analysis was conducted and mRNA expression of MyHC I, IIa, IIx, IIb was quantified by real-time fluorescence PCR in longissimus muscle (LM) and semimembranous muscle of Laiwu pigs and Duroc. The result indicated that, compared with Duroc, mRNA expression of MyHC IIa, IIx in LM and semimembranous muscle of Laiwu pigs was significantly increased, mRNA expression of MyHC IIb was dramatically decreased. However, the expression of MyHC I was not significantly affected by breeds. The correlation between mRNA expression of MyHC I, IIa, IIx in LM and meat color, pH value, marbling, intramuscular fat content was positive, but shear value of LM was negative. The relation between MyHC IIb mRNA expression and marbling, intramuscular fat content was dramatically negative, whereas shear value was strikingly positive, as well as fiber diameter, but without reaching statistical significance. Therefore, the composition of MyHC I, IIa, IIx, IIb affected meat quality, furthermore, expression of MyHC I, IIa, IIx, IIb mRNA prominently influenced meat characteristics, especially edible quality of muscle, suggesting that mRNA expression level of MyHC I, IIa, IIx, IIb can exactly and impersonally estimate meat quality.

ADC values from DWI using a high b-value were found to distinguish HGG and SM. The lowest degree of overlap was obtained when an ADCMIN value was obtained at a b-value of 3000 s/mm(2) .

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