Abstract
The objective was to evaluate the dietary supplementation of different sources of chromium (inorganic: chromium sulfate and chelated: chromium-methionine) during the finishing period of pigs to obtain improvements in the animal performance, and carcass and meat quality. The statistical design was randomized blocks, where 44 barrows, with an initial weight 60.49±5.12 kg, were divided into four blocks (heavier, heavy, light and lighter) according to initial weight. The experimental diets were isoenergetic and isonutrient, except for the chromium level. The treatments were divided as follows: control (without chromium), control + 200 ppb of inorganic chromium (chromium sulfate), and control + 200 ppb of chelated chromium (chromium-methionine). In the performance measures, the stall was considered the experimental unit and in the blood parameters, carcass and meat evaluations each animal constituted the experimental unit. Animals were slaughtered when they reached the final average weight of 107.23±5.23 kg. Blood samples were collected and tested for blood parameters (cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose) as well as carcass quality (hot and cold weights, yield, loin-eye area, muscle depth and backfat thickness) and meat quality (initial and final pH, drip loss, color, chemical composition and lipid oxidation) parameters. Chromium-methionine supplementation provides a greater daily weight gain only compared with the animals that are not supplemented with chromium, because feed conversion is better as compared with the other treatments. After 24 hours of storage, the meat from pigs supplemented either with chromium-methionine or with chromium sulfate presents lower lipid oxidation than that from non-supplemented animals. However, after three days of storage, only chromim-methionine is effective in reducing lipid oxidation.
Highlights
The low consumption of pork in Brazil as compared with other countries is due to prejudice, especially because consumers consider it a fat meat
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of different chromium sources for finishing pigs aiming to improve animal performance and carcass and meat quality
Lien et al (2001) observed that the supplementation of 200 and 400 ppb of chromium picolinate increased the daily feed intake, unlike the observed in this study, in which no difference was found between the same treatments
Summary
The low consumption of pork in Brazil as compared with other countries is due to prejudice, especially because consumers consider it a fat meat. Chromium appears in the animal diet in the inorganic form; this source presents low absorption by the animal organism (EFSA, 2012). This occurs because, during digestion, these compounds form insoluble complexes and can adhere to the carbohydrates of the diet, preventing their absorption (Silva, 2007). This absorption may be facilitated by other nutrients such as the amino acids methionine and histidine and vitamin C (Garcia and Garns, 2004)
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