Abstract
Twenty-four Iberian castrated male pigs were used to characterize and evaluate the effect of the duration of "Montanera" in the adipocytes size and its relation with the backfat thickness and intramuscular fat. The animals were fed under extensive conditions during 30, 60 and 90 days in the "Dehesa" before slaughtered. Carcass weight, percentage of intramuscular fat, thickness of backfat and its three layers and adipocytes size of the intramuscular fat were obtained. The group which expended 90 days on fattening obtained the highest adipocytes, with an area higher by a 50% than those that only expended 30 days. The differences in diameter and perimeter adipocyte were not as marked as area. A significant positive correlation between the diameter, area and perimeter of adipocyte with the backfat thickness were found. The fat cells in Iberian pig hypertrophy during the "montanera stage", being this increase significant from month to month in this period of fattening. Also, this adipocyte increase is correlated with the animal weight. The correlation between adipocyte size and inner layer of backfat shows that the inner layer obtained in live pig by ultrasound techniques could be a good marker of fat infiltration in pigs fattening in "montanera" system.
Highlights
The Iberian pig is raised under extensive system being fed with natural resources, acorns and grass, during the final fattening phase, called “Montanera”
The correlation between adipocyte size and inner layer of backfat shows that the inner layer obtained in live pig by ultrasound techniques could be a good marker of fat infiltration in pigs fattening in “montanera” system
Fat cells from adipose tissue of white pigs are closely studied by several groups of authors (Cagnazzo et al 2006, Wimmers et al 2007, Zheng and Mei 2009) that concluded that adipocyte size increases with live weight of animals
Summary
The Iberian pig is raised under extensive system being fed with natural resources, acorns and grass, during the final fattening phase, called “Montanera”. This stage occurs from October to March and there is a high weight gain and fat accumulation at intramuscular and dorsal level. The fat deposition has come to be one of the main objectives in improving pig production. Factors such as the size of the adipocyte (Etherton 1980, Hausman et al 1983, Mersmann 1986) have been studied because it could explain the differences between lean and fatty pigs
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