Meat quality of swine supplemented with ractopamine under commercial conditions in Brazil1

Abstract

Commercial crossbred barrows and gilts (n = 340) were used to study the effects of different dietary inclusions of ractopamine hydrochloride (RAC) on quality of LM and semimembranosus muscle (SM). Pigs were blocked by BW (107.3 ± 0.76 kg) and allotted to gender-specific pens (10 to 12 pigs/pen), and within blocks, pens of barrows or gilts (10 pens/treatment) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 dietary RAC inclusions (0, 5, or 10 mg/kg) fed during the last 28 d before slaughter. Initial (45-min) and ultimate (24-h) pH and temperature were measured in LM and SM. Visual and instrumental [lightness (L*), redness (a*), and yellowness (b*) values] color as well as drip loss percentages were measured in both muscles after the 24-h chilling period at 1 to 4 °C. The LM was also evaluated for marbling, and samples of the LM were used to measure intramuscular fat (IMF) content, cooking losses, and Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF). Pork quality characteristics of the LM (P ≥ 0.227) and SM (P ≥ 0.082) did not differ between barrows and gilts. Furthermore, neither pH nor temperature of the LM (P ≥ 0.164) or SM (P ≥ 0.284) was affected by feeding pigs RAC. The LM from pigs fed 10 mg/kg of RAC received lesser (P = 0.032) subjective color scores than LM from pigs fed 0 and 5 mg/kg of RAC, and LM from pigs fed 10 mg/kg of RAC was less (P = 0.037) red than LM from pigs fed 0 mg/kg of RAC. In addition, SM from pigs fed 10 mg/kg of RAC had lesser (P ≤ 0.015) a* and b* values than pork from control-fed pigs; however, L* values for LM and SM were not (P ≥ 0.081) affected by dietary RAC. Drip loss percentages of the LM were similar (P = 0.815) among RAC treatments, but the SM from RAC-fed pigs had smaller (P = 0.020) drip loss percentages than SM from pigs fed 0 mg/kg of RAC. Marbling scores and IMF content of the LM did not (P ≥ 0.133) differ among RAC treatments; however, WBSF values were greater (P = 0.005) for LM chops from pigs fed 10 mg/kg than chops from pigs fed 0 and 5 mg/kg of RAC. Even though feeding barrows and gilts 10 mg/kg of dietary RAC reduced (P = 0.050) cooking losses of LM chops compared with feeding 5 mg/kg of RAC, including 10 mg/kg of RAC in the diet of finishing pigs reduced pork tenderness. Therefore, results from this study support the recommendation that including 5 mg/kg of RAC in finishing diets should improve live pig performance without detrimental effects on fresh pork quality and cooked pork palatability.

Ractopamine supplementation improves leanness and carcass yield, minimally affecting pork quality in immunocastrated pigs

“…This result is in agreement with others (Fàbrega et al, 2010) who reported no immunocastration effect on muscle depth and Athayde et al (2012) who reported increases in muscle depth of pigs fed RAC diets.…”

“…Rikard-Bell et al (2009) observed that the half carcass of immunocastrated males was heavier than those from intact males or animals fed RAC. Athayde et al (2012) also reported an increase in slaughter weight values, hot carcass and percentage of lean meat from pigs fed RAC in the diet. The favorable effect of immunocastration on lean meat percentage was also observed in several experiments: Moore et al (2009), Fàbrega et al (2010 and Braña et al (2013).…”

“…Throughout the finishing phase (d 137 to 164) all these parameters were not significantly different. However, RAC supplementation in pig diets during this period (the last 28 d of the finishing phase) promoted up to a 15 % increase in ADG and improved feed conversion using 5, 10 or 15 mg kg (2009) have reported increased ADG and better feed conversion in finishing pigs fed RAC in their diet; these parameters were also improved in barrows and gilts according to Hinson et al (2011) and Athayde et al (2012).…”

“…Duplicate samples of LD were collected between the 6 th and 7 th ribs, 24 h after slaughter, and weighed before being placed into EX-DripLoss tubes in order to measure drip loss according to Athayde et al (2012). Tubes were stored at 4 °C for 48 h before muscles were removed from the tubes and reweighed.…”

Efeito da adição de ractopamina e da imunocastração na carne <i>in natura</i> de suínos

“…Leal et al (2014) (WARRISS et al, 1990;MØLLER;BERTELSEN;OLSEN, 1992;ZAGURY et al, 2002;STOLLER et al, 2003;APPLE et al, 2004;BRIDI et al, 2006;SILVEIRA et al, 2006;APPLE et al, 2008;FERNÁNDEZ-DUEÑAS et al, 2008;TONIETTI, 2008;PAULY et al, 2009;BETTS, 2011;ATHAYDE et al 2012;ŠKRLEP et al, 2012;CALDARA et. al., 2013).…”