Genetic Parameter Estimates for Meat Quality Traits in Berkshire Pigs

Abstract

Swine industry in Korea plays an important role in providing the meat for domestic consumption, and the number of pigs in Korea was about 9.72 million heads as of June, 2010. Meat quality is used to describe any traits which impact the consumer acceptability of fresh meat products. Meat color, firmness, water holding capacity, ultimate muscle pH24h (measured 24 hours post-mortem), shear force, and intramuscular fat percentage (IMF) are generally accepted as important indicators of meat quality and ultimately, consumer acceptance of fresh pork. The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for meat quality traits in Berkshire pigs. The heritability estimates for muscle pH24h, lightness (CIE L*), NPPC marbling were 0.61, 0.56 and 0.57, respectively, The heritability estimates for drip loss, cooking loss, shear force were 0.51, 0.66 and 0.56, respectively. The phenotypic correlations between pH24h and lightness (CIE L*), drip loss, cooking loss were negative, ranging from-.45-.13. The genetic correlations between muscle pH24h and lightness (CIE L*), drip loss were negative, ranging from-.35~-.32. Genetic parameters obtained herein indicate that genetic improvement of muscle pH24h is not related to the NPPC marbling of meat, but rather to improved lightness(CIE L*) and drip loss. Genetic trends of meat quality traits showed increased muscle pH24h and decreased cooking loss and drip loss.

Effect of a <i>c-MYC</i> Gene Polymorphism (g.3350G>C) on Meat Quality Traits in Berkshire

“…Muscle pH is an important economic factor that is associated with water-holding capacity of muscle’s, which in turn has a marked influence on the appearance of meat ( Barge et al, 1991 ). According to Jung et al (2011) , pH 45min and pH 24min were positively correlated whereas both were negatively correlated with drip loss and shear force in Berkshire pigs. Previous studies have suggested the influence of MYC gene on glucose metabolism ( Collier et al, 2003 ), whereby lactic acid production from glycolysis reaction has an effect on the pH of meat.…”

“…A previous study reported that postmortem pH in muscle and meat quality characteristics correlated ( Huff-Lonergan et al, 2002 ). According to Jung et al (2011) , pH 45 min and pH 24 h were positively correlated whereas both were negatively correlated with drip loss and shear force in Berkshire pigs.…”

“…Basically, consumer perception of meat quality is an important selection criterion for the purchase of meat. However, varying degrees in meat quality decreases reliability and challenges consumers in making good pork purchases ( Jung et al, 2011 ). Therefore, to overcome this problem, industries have developed a system to improve traits accounting for meat quality to satisfy the consumer demand for the highest quality of pork ( Lee et al, 2012 ).…”

Evaluation of Genome Based Estimated Breeding Values for Meat Quality in a Berkshire Population Using High Density Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Chips

“… Tomiyama et al (2011) reported 0.54 and 0.32 for (BF) at finish and CWT, respectively, in a Japanese Berkshire population (n = 4,773). Jung et al (2011) reported that heritabilities of pH2 4 h, CIE a, b, and L, WHC, NPPC marbling, drip loss, heat loss and shear force ranged between 0.51 and 0.66 in a Berkshire population (n = 808), Korea. Compared with the two reports, the heritability estimates of the meat quality traits in this study were low.…”

Genetic parameter estimation and gene association analyses for meat quality traits in open‐air free‐range Iberian pigs

“…Most of the heritability estimates reported for shear force and water holding capacity traits (Suzuki et al. (2005), Gjerlaug‐Enger, Aass, Odegård, and Vangen (2010), Jung, Kim, Park, Choi, and Park (2011), Miar et al. (2014), Baby et al.…”