Analysis of the formation of the belly in relation to sex

Abstract

The aim of the study was to analyse the formation of pig belly in relation to sex. The analysis included in total 193 slaughter pigs of final hybrids currently used in the Czech Republic. The pigs were slaughtered at the age of 166–175 days. The VIA method according to the methodology of Schwerdtfeger et al. (1993) was used to evaluate the formation of belly and to estimate the percentage of lean meat. The calculation of the lean meat and its proportion in the belly was based on the equation according to Čítek (2002). The belly in total as well as the EU belly in barrows reached the weight of 7.85 kg and 4.35 kg, respectively, and in gilts 7.66 kg and 4.12 kg, respectively. With almost the same weight of dressed carcasses, the belly in barrows accounted for a higher proportion, i.e. 9.96% compared to 9.56% in gilts. In terms of percentage the gilts had a statistically highly significantly higher proportion of meat in the EU belly, namely by 3.32% compared to barrows. At all points of measurement the higher total area of the belly section was found in barrows compared to gilts. A comparison of the percentage proportion of lean meat area in the total belly area at individual points of measurement indicated statistically significantly higher values in gilts than in barrows. It was confirmed that in the section area from point 1 to point 3 the deposition of fat in barrows was higher with the values of the meat area ranging from 58.15% to 56.09%. On the other hand, in gilts the differences between individual sections were very small: 61.25%, 61.99% and 61.49%.