Effect of feed deprivation and lairage time on carcass and meat quality traits on pigs under minimal stressful conditions

How do season, on-farm fasting interval and lairage period affect swine welfare, carcass and meat quality traits?

“…Carcass lesions were significantly influenced (P < 0.0001) by season (Table 4). In contrast to previous reported (Panella-Riera et al 2012), independently of the season, lairage period affected the incidence of carcass lesions unlike on-farm fasting interval (Table 5). Carcass lesions caused by fighting were greater (P ≤ 0.005) in the winter, mainly after 3 and 6 h of lairage (P ≤ 0.005).…”

“…This finding confirmed that not only the stomach weight must be monitored at auditings for potential sources of carcass contamination at the abattoir, but also, the stomach content type. Indeed, the results also confirmed that pigs fasted for longer than 12 h on-farm or at abattoir might have higher stomach water content (Faucitano et al 2010;Panella-Riera et al 2012).…”

“…The literature reported a twofold greater stomach weight in pigs slaughtered non-fasted than fasted for 16 to 24 h (Kephart and Mills, 2005) and 6 than 24 h (Eikelenboom et al 1991). Panella-Riera et al (2012) found a lower frequency for empty stomachs at slaughter in non-fasted pigs (22.2%) than in pigs fasted for 12 h onfarm and slaughtered immediately (77.8%) or pigs fasted for 12 h in the lairage (94.4%). Miller et al (1997) and Brown et al (1999) reported that pigs subjected to a longterm (24 h) fast tend to increase the water intake.…”

“…In cases of low stress during loading, transport and unloading, some authors recommend slaughtering pigs on the arrival at the abattoir (Aaslying and Barton Gade 2001). Thus, based on the potential advantages of applying different combinations of on-farm fasting interval and lairage period, further research is needed to understand these effects under commercial conditions (Panella-Riera et al 2012).…”

Composition and quality characteristics of carcasses from pigs divergently selected for residual feed intake on high or low energy diets

“…Pigs which experienced longer feed withdrawal time antemortem, tended to have less glycogen stored in the adductor which resulted in a higher ultimate pH (Warriss et al, 1989). Panella-Riera et al (2012) agreed that fasting times affected pH, as an on-farm fasting time of 12 hours tended to increase 45 minute postmortem and ultimate pH in the longissimus thorasis. However, short term stress during transport and in the plant, can result in a lower ultimate pH, due to a rapid decrease in glycogen content, and increased rate of glycolysis postmortem.…”