The effects of gender and slaughter weight on the growth performance, carcass traits, and meat quality characteristics of heavy pigs1

Abstract

Crossbred pigs (n = 192) from Piétrain x Large White sires mated to Landrace x Large White dams, with a mean BW of 75 +/- 1.3 kg, were used to investigate the effects of gender and slaughter weight (SW) on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and meat quality. Pens of pigs (eight pigs/pen) were assigned randomly to one of six treatments arranged in a 2 x 3 factorial design with two genders (barrows or gilts) and three SW (116, 124, or 133 kg). Each treatment was replicated four times. Over the entire trial, barrows had higher (P < 0.001) ADFI (as-fed basis) and ADG than gilts; however, gilts had higher (P < 0.05) gain-to-feed ratios (G:F) than barrows. Barrows had lower (P < 0.01) dressing percents than gilts and produced fatter (P < 0.001) carcasses that had lower trimmed shoulder (P < 0.10) and ham (P < 0.001) yields than gilts. There was a trend for the semimembranosus muscle (SM) from barrows to have a higher (P < 0.10) 45-min pH than that of gilts, but 24-h pH was 0.11 pH unit higher (P < 0.01) in the SM of barrows than gilts. Gender had no (P > 0.10) effect on the moisture and lipid content of the longissimus muscle (LM), nor did gender affect (P > 0.10) LM color, myoglobin content, or thaw loss percentage. However, the LM from barrows had lower (P < 0.05) cooking loss percentages and tended to have lower (P < 0.10) shear force values than the LM from gilts. Pigs slaughtered at 116 kg had higher (P < 0.05) ADG than pigs slaughtered at 124 and 133 kg. Daily feed intake (as-fed basis) was not (P > 0.10) different among SW; however, pigs slaughtered at 116 and 124 kg had higher (P < 0.001) G:F than those slaughtered at 133 kg. Dressing percent, backfat depth, carcass length, and ham and shoulder weights increased (P < 0.001) as SW increased from 116 to 133 kg. The initial (45-min) pH of the SM from pigs slaughtered at 133 kg was higher (P < 0.05) than from pigs slaughtered at 116 or 124 kg; however, 24-h pH was not (P > 0.10) affected by SW. The LM from pigs slaughtered at 133 kg was darker (lower L* values; P < 0.001), redder (higher a* value; P < 0.01), and had more (P < 0.001) myoglobin than the LM of pigs slaughtered at 116 and 124 kg. Barrows and gilts of this particular crossbreed can be used to produce acceptable quality fresh pork when slaughtered at 116 kg; however, increasing SW to 124 kg, or more, decreased live pig performance and carcass leanness without any additional benefits to pork quality attributes.

Effect of castration on productive performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality of Iberian pig females reared under intensive management systems

“…Backfat was 7.6 mm thicker in CF than in IF but castration did not affect cooler shrink. These results are in accordance with data of Serrano et al (2008b, in press,) in IB pigs and with Latorre et al (2003aLatorre et al ( , 2004 in heavy white pigs. Cooler shrink varied from 10.3 to 11.3 g/kg, values that are lower than 20 to 30 g/kg reported by Cisneros et al (1996) and Lebret et al (2001) in white pigs.…”

The relationship within and between production performance and meat quality characteristics in pigs from three different genetic lines

“…The ADFI is also negatively correlated with DM content (r = −0.55). The age effect on the moisture (or DM) content and the a ⁎ value variation have also been reported in other studies (García-Macías et al, 1996;Latorre et al, 2004).…”

Effect of replacing barley by increasing levels of olive cake in the diet of finishing pigs: Growth performances, digestibility, carcass, meat and fat quality

“…In fact, several works have shown that the energy content of diet has a high impact on fatness in pigs (Suarez-Belloch et al, 2013) and poultry (Engel et al, 2001). In addition, Latorre et al (2004) found a negative relationship between carcass fatness and yield of main lean cuts. In this regard, in the current trial, no effect was detected on fat depth at 3rd to 4th last ribs and also pigs from all treatments had similar proportion of hams, shoulders and loins.…”

“…Besides, those pigs fed this diet had longer carcasses and wider hams. Latorre et al (2004) studied the relationship between pig slaughter weight and carcass size and observed an increase of carcass length and ham perimeter of 2 cm and 1.1 cm, respectively, per each increase of 10 kg BW. In general, shorter carcasses are commercially preferred because of their easier manipulation; however, Mediterranean consumers demand longer and thinner hams because those characteristics are currently associated to high quality hams.…”