The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of fermented oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreats) by-production (FOMP) supplementation on the growth performance, blood parameters, carcass traits and meat quality in finishing Berkshire pigs. FOMP was made by mixing oyster mushroom by-production with rice bran and barley bran and this mixture was fermented for 60 days. The experimental diets were 0, 3, 5 and 7% of FOMP added to C, T1, T2 and T3 in the basis diet for 7 weeks. Average daily gain (kg/day) was higher in C and T1 than in T2 and T3 ( P , 0.05). Average daily feed intake (kg/day) and feed conversion increased by the addition of FOMP ( P , 0.05). Total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were higher in T3 than other treatments ( P , 0.05). Carcass weight (kg) was higher in C and T1 than in T2 and T3 ( P , 0.05). Dressing (%) was higher in C than in T3 ( P , 0.05). Crude protein was lower in T3 than in other treatments ( P , 0.05). Crude fat was higher in T2 and T3 than in C ( P , 0.05). pH 24 was higher in C than in other treatments ( P , 0.05). Cooking loss (%) was higher in T1 than T2 ( P , 0.05). Water-holding capacity (%) was higher in C than in T1 ( P , 0.05). In meat colour, CIE a* was lower by the addition of FOMP ( P , 0.05). CIE b* was higher in C than in other treatments ( P , 0.05). In backfat colour, CIE L* was lower in T3 than other treatments ( P , 0.05). CIE b* was lower by addition of FOMP ( P , 0.05). Palmitoleic and oleic acid were higher in T3 than in other treatments ( P , 0.05). Linoleic and arachidonic acids were higher in T2 than in other treatments ( P , 0.05). The results indicate that 3% of FOMP affected the growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality and fatty acid in contrast to addition of 5% of FOMP for Berkshire pigs during the finishing period.Keywords: carcass composition, growth, meat quality, oyster mushroom by-production, pigs.
IntroductionOyster mushrooms are macroscopic fungi, which are traditionally used as Chinese medicines or functional food in Asian countries (Kawagishi et al., 2000). Oyster mushrooms have a high quantity of proteins, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins as well as low fat (Manzi et al., 1999). Edible mushrooms have several beneficial effects on health such as hypoglycaemic activities (Wang and Ng, 1999), and produce. Mushrooms also produce proteins such as lectins, ribosome-inactivating proteins, antifungal proteins and ribonucleases (Kobayashi et al., 1992;Lam and Ng, 2001;Ye and Ng, 2002;Wang et al., 2002). Many researchers have reported that mushrooms are an ideal food for the dietetic prevention of atherosclerosis due to their high content of fibre, protein and low fat content (Kurasawa et al., 1982;Wong et al., 2003;Cheung and Lee, 2000). In their work, Sun et al. (1984) used mushrooms as natural hypocholesterolemic and antisclerotic diet in oriental medicine. Mushrooms have also be found to be medically active in several therapies such as antitumour, antiviral, and immunomodulating treatments (Wasser ...