Dietary N-Carbamylglutamate supplementation enhances myofiber development and intramuscular fat deposition in growing-finishing pigs

Abstract

The objective of current study was to investigate the effects of dietary N-Carbamylglutamate (NCG) supplementation on growth performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality and muscle fiber trait of finishing pigs; Methods: A total of 350 female PIC pigs (30.41± 3.24kg) were divided into 2 treatments with 7 replicates of 25 each for a 105-day trial. Two treatment diets included a basal diet (control) and an experimental diet with 0.1% NCG supplementation in the basal diet. Growth performance was evaluated for each phase. Carcass characteristics and meat quality were determined in the last phase.; (3) Results: The results indicated that growth performance was not affected by treatments in all phases(P>0.05). NCG tended to improve dressing percentage (P=0.06). NCG not only increased the longissimus dorsi muscle length and weight, marbling score, intramuscular fat (IMF) level and tenderness, but also decreased drip loss of LM muscle (P<0.05). Mandibular fat index was decreased by NCG (P<0.05). NCG supplementation increased the myosin heavy chain (MyHC) I, MyHC-IIa and fatty acid synthase (FAS) mRNA expression, but decreased myofiber cross-sectional area and muscle fiber diameter (P<0.05); Conclusions: Dietary 0.1% NCG supplementation could improve the carcass trait and meat quality through modulating the genes expression associating with myofiber development and intramuscular fat deposition in finishing pigs.