Abstract
Simple SummaryExcessive fat deposit is one of the major problems in finishing Ningxiang pigs, and adversely affects the breeding. The study aimed to investigate the effects of diet with betaine supplementation (basal diet + 0.2% betaine) on the growth performance, slaughter performance, meat quality and the genes expression related to fat deposition in finishing Ningxiang pigs. The results indicated that diet with betaine supplementation decreased back fat thickness and fat percentage, and increased the lean meat percentage as well. In addition, it reduced the fat deposition by regulating the genes expression. These findings provided a reference for breeding Ningxiang pigs. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of diet with betaine supplementation on the growth performance, carcass quality and fat deposition in finishing Ningxiang pigs. A total of 24 Ningxiang pigs (43.6 ± 5.34 kg of average body weight) was randomly divided into two groups, with 6 replicates per treatment and 2 pigs per replicate. The treatments included a control group (basal diet) and a test group (basal diet + 0.2% betaine). The whole trial lasted 81 days. At the end of the experiment, one pig (close to the average body weight of all experimental pigs) per replicate was slaughtered to determine the carcass traits, meat quality and the mRNA expression levels of genes relate to fat deposition (one pig per replicate was randomly selected and fasted for 12 h, n = 6). Results indicated that growth performance was not changed with betaine supplementation. However, dietary with betaine supplementation decreased back fat thickness and fat percentage, and increased the lean meat percentage as well (p < 0.05). In addition, diet with betaine supplementation reduced drip loss, water loss, cooking loss, shear force and b × 24 h value of meat (p < 0.05). There was no difference in total moisture, ether extract and crude protein of longissimus thoracis between the control and test group. Dietary with betaine supplementation decreased ether extract and total cholesterol (p < 0.05) in liver. Dietary with betaine supplementation upregulated the mRNA expression levels of adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) and sirtuin 1 (Sirt1), while downregulated the mRNA expression levels of fatty acid synthase (FAS) and acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACC) in subcutaneous fat of back (p < 0.05). Besides, dietary with betaine supplementation upregulated the fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) mRNA expression of longissimus thoracis in finishing Ningxiang pigs (p < 0.05). These results showed that diet supplemented with betaine could improve the slaughtering performance and meat quality, and regulate the genes expression to affect the fat deposition in finishing Ningxiang pigs.
Highlights
Fat is an important tissue for storing energy, and is closely related to livestock and poultry production and meat quality [1]
There was no difference of average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) between the control and test group (Table 3)
There were studies reporting that diet with betaine supplementation might upregulate the growth performance in pigs [13]
Summary
Fat is an important tissue for storing energy, and is closely related to livestock and poultry production and meat quality [1]. Lei et al [4] reports that Ningxiang pigs exhibit higher back fat thickness than Large White pigs (4.54% vs 2.61%). He et al [5] conclude that Ningxiang pigs have higher fat mass (42.3% vs 21.9%) and lower muscle mass (35.4% vs 58.9%) than. It is necessary to find a way to decrease the fat deposition in Ningxiang pigs for high feed conversion efficiency with lower cost. It was hypothesized that betaine supplementation may reduce fat deposition and improve lean meat percentage in finishing Ningxiang pigs. The study was conducted to explore the effect of betaine supplementation on growth performance, carcass quality and fat metabolism in finishing
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