Feeding diets based on barley or triticale during fattening of high-meat PIC pigs: Effects on carcass characteristics and meat quality parameters

Abstract

This study was conducted to compare performance, carcass and meat quality parameters in high-meat fattening hybride PIC pigs fed barley or triticale based diets. Sixty, 12 week old weaner piglets of similar mean body weight (30 kg ± 0.4) were randomly divided into two groups of 30 each, and assigned to one of the two dietary treatment groups designated as group B (fed bar ley based diets) and group T (fed triticale based diets). The pigs fed T based diets showed 8% higher growth rate (p<0.05) at 11% lower feed conversion ratio. Post slaughter parameters in pigs fed triticale based diets were more desirable than in those fed barley based diets. T fed pigs had higher loin eye area and smaller suet weight (p<0.01). Dressing percentage, carcass length, fleshiness, back fat thickness, dry matter, crude ash, crude protein and ether extract and pH of meat were similar in both groups. Meat from T fed pigs had slightly darker colour of m. semimembranosus, and higher water holding capacity of m. longisimus lumborum (p<0.05). Feeding triticale based diets to PIC pigs has beneficial effects on performance and characteristics carcass. Triticale could totally replace barley in rations for fattening high meat PIC swine.