Carcass and meat quality characteristics of immunocastrated male, surgically castrated male, entire male and female pigs

Knowledge of tissue and cuts growth depending on the sex could be used to improve performance and efficiency. Computed tomography (CT) is a non-invasive technology that enables the study of the body composition of live animals during growth. The aims of the present study were (1) to evaluate variation in the body composition of four sex types (SEX) of pigs (castrated males (CM), immunocastrated males (IM), entire males (EM) and females (FE)) at the live weight of 30, 70, 100 and 120 kg, assessed using CT; (2) to model the growth of the main tissues and cuts; and (3) to predict the mature BW (MBW) of the four SEX and establish the relationships between the growth models and the MBW. There were significant phenotypic differences in the allometric growth of fat and lean among SEX. For the lean tissue, FE and EM showed higher values of the b coefficient than CM and IM (1.07 and 1.07 v. 1.00 and 1.02, respectively) all of them close to unity, indicating a proportional growth rate similar to live weight and that this tissue developed faster in FE and EM than in CM and IM. However, these differences were not related to differences in estimated MBW. There were significant differences in estimated MBW among SEX, being higher in IM and EM than in CM and FE (303 and 247 v. 219 and 216 kg), however, the MBW may have been overestimated, especially for the IM. The poorer accuracy of the MBW estimate for the IM could be due to a maximum live weight of 120 kg in the experiment, or to the fact that this particular SEX presented two clear behaviours, being more similar to EM from birth to the second injection of the vaccine (130 days) and comparable with CM from that point to the final BW.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growth of total fat and lean and of primal cuts is affected by the sex type

Carabús

Sainz

Oltjen

et al. 2017

“…Although these results favour castration of gilts to improve quality of primal cuts intended for the dry-cured industry, the European Union legislation on animal welfare does not allow surgical castration of gilts (Gispert et al, 2010). But the results of this experiment might be applicable for other methods of castration of gilts, such as immunocastration.…”

Section: Carcass Traitsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Productive performance, carcass and meat quality of intact and castrated gilts slaughtered at 106 or 122 kg BW

Peinado

Serrano

Medel³

et al. 2011

A total of 200 (Landrace 3 Large White dam 3 Pietrain 3 Large White sire) gilts of 50 6 3 days of age (23.3 6 1.47 kg BW) were used to investigate the effects of castration (intact gilt, IG v. castrated gilt, CG) and slaughter weight (SW; 106 v. 122 kg BW) on productive performance, carcass and meat quality. Four treatments were arranged factorially and five replicates of 10 pigs each per treatment. Half of the gilts were ovariectomized at 58 days of age (8 days after the beginning of the trial at 29.8 6 1.64 kg BW), whereas the other half remained intact. The pigs were slaughtered at 106 or 122 kg BW. Meat samples were taken at Musculus longissimus thoracis at the level of the last rib and subcutaneous fat samples were taken at the tail insertion. For the entire experimental period, CG had higher (P , 0.05) BW gain and higher (P , 0.001) backfat and Musculus gluteus medius fat thickness than IG. However, IG had higher (P , 0.05) loin and trimmed primal cut yields than CG. Meat quality was similar for IG and CG but the proportion of linoleic acid in subcutaneous fat was higher (P , 0.001) for IG. Pigs slaughtered at 122 kg BW had higher (P , 0.001) feed intake and poorer feed efficiency than pigs slaughtered at 106 kg BW. An increase in SW improved (P , 0.001) carcass yield but decreased (P , 0.05) trimmed primal cut yield. Meat from pigs slaughtered at the heavier BW was redder (a*; P , 0.001) and had more (P , 0.01) intramuscular fat and less thawing (P , 0.05) and cooking (P , 0.10) loss than meat from pigs slaughtered at the lighter BW. In addition, pigs slaughtered at 122 kg BW had less (P , 0.01) linoleic acid content in subcutaneous fat than pigs slaughtered at 106 kg BW. Castration of gilts and slaughtering at heavier BW are useful practices for the production of heavy pigs destined to the dry-cured industry in which a certain amount of fat in the carcass is required. In contrast, when the carcasses are destined to fresh meat production, IG slaughtered at 106 kg BW is a more efficient alternative.

“…Although the total weight of the reproductive organs is lower in IC compared with EM, it is still higher than that in SC because the testes are still present and the accessory sex glands have not regressed to the same extent as in SC. Moreover, there are other factors that can explain impaired dressing percentage in IC, such as increased abdominal fat (Š krlep et al, 2010a and 2010b) and higher weights of intestinal tract, kidneys and liver (Pauly et al, 2009;Gispert et al, 2010).…”

Section: Immunocastrates -Entire Malesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meta-analysis of the effect of immunocastration on production performance, reproductive organs and boar taint compounds in pigs

Batorek

Čandek-Potokar

Bonneau

et al. 2012

117

102

Meta-analytical approach was used to quantitatively synthesize the effect of immunocastration on growth, carcass, meat quality, reproductive organs and boar taint compounds. Altogether, 41 papers were collected for effect size (θ) calculation and the comparisons were made with entire males (EM) and surgical castrates (SC). The data for reproductive organs and growth performance are numerous enough to draw firm conclusions. In contrast, data for carcass and meat quality are more limited. Results of meta-analysis show efficient immunocastration with the magnitude of the response being by far the largest for reproductive organs (θ= −2.8 to −5.0) and boar taint substances (θ= −2.8 and −0.8 for androstenone and skatole, respectively). However, compared with SC, the immunocastrates exhibit larger bulbourethral glands (θ= 1.3) and slightly higher concentrations of androstenone and skatole (θ= 0.1 andθ= 0.2, respectively). The impact of immunocastration is also remarkable on performance, where the main advantage of the immunocastrates is their boar-like performance until revaccination. In the period following the second vaccination, they eat much more than EM (θ= 2.1), resulting in large effect size for growth rate compared with both EM and SC (θ= 1.1 andθ= 1.4, respectively). Considering the whole fattening period, their feed conversion ratio is higher compared with EM (θ= 0.6) and much lower than that of SC (θ= −1.3), although exhibiting moderately faster growth compared with both (θ= 0.6 andθ= 0.2, respectively). With regard to carcass quality, the immunocastrates take intermediate position between EM and SC. Besides, our analysis suggests no difference in meat quality with SC and some meat quality advantages of immunocastrates over EM because of higher intramuscular fat content (θ= 0.4) and lower shear force (θ= −0.6).