Effects of slaughter weight and growth rate on the longissimus muscle metabolic characteristics, and pork sensory quality in pigs of two sexes

Abstract

A total of 119 pigs were used to investigate the effect of slaughter weight (107, 115, and 125 kg), growth rate (fast vs. slow), and sex (barrows vs. gilts) on the longissimus muscle biochemical and sensory traits. Increasing slaughter weight to 125 kg resulted in greater postmortem activity of calpastatin (P = 0.01), lactate dehydrogenase (P = 0.01), and citrate synthase (P = 0.02). Pork toughness and juiciness at 6 d were affected by the interaction slaughter weight × growth rate × sex, with pork being tougher (P = 0.04) and juicer (P = 0.03) in slow-growing gilts slaughtered at 125 and 115 kg, respectively. Flavour was scored higher (P = 0.03) in pork from gilts than from barrows. Overall, based on the slight and likely undetectable differences by the average consumer in the meat sensory traits, it can be concluded that slaughter weight can be increased to 125 kg without appreciable effect on the sensory properties.

The analysis of selected physical and technological parameters of pork quality depending on intesity of the pigs growth in fattening

“…On the contrary, Wagner (2007) in his research stated that slower-growing pigs were characterized by the lowest values of shear force. In the study of Oksbjerg et al (2000) and Duan et al (2018) the growth rate did not affect the shear force of pork. The color of the meat in the L* parameter expressing the meat lightness showed no statistically significant differences between the growth groups within individual sexes or in the whole group of pigs.…”