Carcass Composition and Physicochemical Characteristics of Meat from Pork Chains Based on Native and Hybrid Pigs

Goran Kušec,Žarko Radišić,Ivona Djurkin Kušec,Kristina Gvozdanović,Velimir Sili,Miodrag Komlenić,Marina Krvavica

doi:10.3390/pr10020370

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to investigate the carcass composition, meat quality and chemical composition of pigs from two pork chains for the production of traditional dry/cured products in Croatia. The trial involved 24 Black Slavonian barrows reared outdoors (NAT chain) and 24 PIC hybrid barrows kept under industrial conditions (INT chain); all animals were raised to 160 kg of live weight. After slaughter, carcass and meat quality traits were measured and samples for chemical composition were taken. After that, a full dissection of the carcasses was performed. The pigs from the INT pork chain had leaner carcasses, higher bone percentages, and lower fatness levels than the NAT carcasses. Pigs from the NAT chain exhibited a more desirable meat quality. No differences were found in moisture, and samples from the INT chain exhibited higher collagen and protein percentage. Muscles from the NAT chain had higher IMF and MUFA levels, and the SFA content was lower than in INT pork. Despite the superior carcass traits of the pigs from the INT chain, pigs from the NAT chain demonstrated better suitability for the production of dry/cured products.

Highlights

Most of the pork today comes from modern breeds or hybrids exhibiting certain advantages over native breeds, such as a high prolificacy, very fast growth and increased lean meat percentages in the carcasses
live weight (LW) of 160 kg, the Black Slavonian pigs from the native pig breed (NAT) pork chain had lower muscle thickness and significantly higher (p < 0.001) fat thickness than the in a prolonged fattening period (INT) fatteners, and the fatteners from the NAT chain showed a higher production of fat (p < 0.05) and lower leanness (p < 0.05) those from the INT chain
These results are in line with the results reported for other European and Asian native breeds, which are not selected for leaner carcasses and so exhibit higher fat thickness values than different genetic lines of modern pig breeds [33,34]

Summary

Introduction

Most of the pork today comes from modern breeds or hybrids exhibiting certain advantages over native breeds, such as a high prolificacy, very fast growth and increased lean meat percentages in the carcasses. Those animals are extremely sensitive to microclimatic condition changes and are often prone to stress and diseases. For these reasons, the production of such pigs requires very strict management and housing conditions. The production of such pigs requires very strict management and housing conditions Their meat is often characterized by unsatisfactory quality traits such as high drip loss, colour deterioration and reduced intramuscular fat content (IMF), making it less suitable for processing into products [1], especially high-quality those of high quality or labelled with protected denomination of origin (PDO) or protected geographic indication (PGI). Over 80 pork production systems in European countries have been recognized, with approximately half of them considered conventional and half considered alternative based on claims on improved eating quality, animal welfare, environmental impact, local impact, etc. [3]

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