Strategies to Meet Nutritional Requirements and Reduce Boar Taint in Meat from Entire Male Pigs and Immunocastrates

The aim of the research was to investigate the influence of terminal sire line (TSL) and male category (MC) on carcass and meat quality of commercial fatteners. The study was performed on 180 pigs originating from three terminal sire lines: A (Pietrain × Large White), B (pure Pietrain), and C (Pietrain × Duroc × Large White), being assigned to three groups according to MC: immunocastrates (IC, n = 60), surgical castrates (SC, n = 60) and entire males (EM, n = 60). TSL affected most of the carcass and meat quality traits, together with the androstenone concentration. At the same time, MC had a significant effect on fat thickness, ham circumference, drip loss, cooking loss and androstenone and skatole concentrations. A significant interaction effect was observed for carcass length and ham circumference, as well as for most of the measured meat quality traits (except cooking loss, CIE L*, CIE b*, and Warner Bratzler Shear Force (WBSF)). Among the three investigated sire lines, immunocastration was shown to be most beneficial for fatteners sired by the TSL C. However, if deciding to raise EM, fatteners from the TSL B are recommended in terms of carcass and meat quality, although strategies for avoiding boar taint in their carcasses must be taken into consideration.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Immunocastration on Slaughter Traits and Boar Taint Compounds in Pigs Originating from Three Different Terminal Sire Lines

Kušec

Cimerman²,

Škrlep

et al. 2021

“…Moreover, the high feed intake and the resulting increased fill of the digestive tract explain the poorer dressing percentage of immunocastrates compared to EM or castrates [ 64 , 67 ]. For a review on nutritional requirements of EM and immunocastrates see Bee et al [ 68 ].…”

Section: Vaccination Against Boar Taint (Immunocastration)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The immunological suppression of testicular function could, thus, represent a more animal-friendly, immediately available alternative to surgical castration, which also takes into account the consumer perspective by eliminating the formation of androstenone and skatole accumulation (see [ 68 , 75 ] as well as other reports in this special issue.…”

Section: Vaccination Against Boar Taint (Immunocastration)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare Aspects of Raising Entire Male Pigs and Immunocastrates

Borell

Bonneau

Holinger

et al. 2020

For a long time, scientists assumed that newborns have a severely limited sense of pain (if any). However, this assumption is wrong and led to a “start of the exit” from piglet surgical castration. Some of the currently discussed or already implemented alternatives such as general or local anaesthesia during surgical castration raise additional welfare concerns as well as legal problems and/or are hardly applicable. The favoured long-term, welfare-friendly “gold standard” is to raise entire male pigs (EM). However, this may also impose certain welfare problems under the current conventional housing and management conditions. The specific types of behaviour displayed by EM such as mounting and aggressive behaviours but also increased exploration, which are partially linked to sexual maturation, increase the risk for injuries. The current status of knowledge (scientific literature and farmer experiences) on housing of EM suggests that environmental enrichment, space, group-stability, social constellation, feeding (diet and feeder space), health and climate control are critical factors to be considered for future housing systems. From an animal welfare point of view, an intermediate variant to be favoured to reduce problematic behaviour could be to slaughter EM before reaching puberty or to immunize boars early on to suppress testicular function. Immunization against endogenous GnRH can reduce EM-specific problems after the 2nd vaccination.

“…Nutritional factors, such as levels of protein, and methyl group donors (some essential amino acids and other metabolites related to them) could also influence these epigenetic regulation [ 6 , 7 ]. In farm animals, different nutritional strategies are being investigated specifically in protein and amino acids content, which are directly related to both productive traits, as reduction of boar taint in meat, and to improve the meat quality [ 8 , 9 ]. These changes could have an epigenetic effect on animals, and their offspring.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Does Protein Nutrition Affect the Epigenetic Changes in Pig? A Review

Marín-Garcia

Llobat

2021

Epigenetic changes regulate gene expression and depend of external factors, such as environment and nutrition. In pigs, several studies on protein nutrition have been performed to improve productive and reproductive traits. Indeed, these studies aimed not only to determine broad protein requirements but also pigs’ essential amino acids requirements. Moreover, recent studies tried to determine these nutritional requirements for each individual, which is known as protein precision nutrition. However, nutritional changes could affect different epigenetic mechanisms, modifying metabolic pathways both in a given individual and its offspring. Modifications in protein nutrition, such as change in the amino acid profile, increase or decrease in protein levels, or the addition of metabolites that condition protein requirements, could affect the regulation of some genes, such as myostatin, insulin growth factor, or genes controlling cholesterol and glucose metabolism pathways. This review summarizes the impact of most common protein nutritional strategies on epigenetic changes and describes their effects on regulation of gene expression in pigs. In a context where animal nutrition is shifting towards precision protein nutrition (PPN), further studies evaluating the effects of PPN on animal epigenetic are necessary.