Abstract
ABSTRACT We investigated the ability to predict production performance in Iberian pigs in an extensive production system from measurements of feed efficiency measured intensively. The second objective of this work was to study the relationship between feed efficiency and meat quality (composition, juiciness, tenderness, color, and subcutaneous fatty acid composition) and if cooked and cured quality properties can be predicted by properties in fresh meat. Thirty Iberian sows received successively a restricted diet of concentrate (P1concentrate) and acorns (P2acorn) intensively [...]
Highlights
The Iberian pig breed is the most important Mediterranean swine type (Sus mediterraneus), both in population size and in economic importance (González Fernández, 2003; Díaz-Caro et al, 2019)
Body weight increased from an average of 111.5 (±1.17) kg at the start of the experiment to 137.8 (±1.39) kg at the end of P1concentrate, 144.5 (±1.24) kg at the end of P2acorn, and 150.2 (±1.52) kg at the end of P3montanera (Figure 1a)
Because a large part of the acorn cornel is rejected as indigestible fibrous material, pigs ate a considerably high weight in acorns per daily body weight gain (DBWG); as expected, FCEP1concentrate was significantly higher than FCEP2acorn (P
Summary
The Iberian pig breed is the most important Mediterranean swine type (Sus mediterraneus), both in population size and in economic importance (González Fernández, 2003; Díaz-Caro et al, 2019). In Spain, in a production system called “montanera”, after a period of restricted feeding on concentrate, the Iberian pigs roam the Mediterranean forest called the “dehesa”: woodlands of evergreen oak trees, grass, herbs, and roots (Rodríguez Estévez et al, 2009). As a consequence, this production system is a model for extensive organic farming, providing animal freedom and welfare (Rodríguez-Estévez et al, 2012). With an average production of 11 kg of acorns per adult evergreen oak needed to obtain 1 kg of weight gain, Rodríguez-Estévez et al (2012) estimated that a herd of pigs need as many trees as the expected total kg weight gain, translating to a stocking rate of less than 1 pig per ha of dehesa to achieve the minimum standard of 46 kg weight gain per pig
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