Abstract
Modern meat production has to meet the requirements of profitability, while meeting the demands of consumers in terms of meat quality at the same time. Huge scientific work has been done in order to find balance between quantity and quality of meet. Most authors agree that piglets of lower birth weight have less muscle fibers within muscle, grow slower, compensating the muscle growth with increase of muscle fiber diameter and accumulating carcass fat. In recent years, selection in pig production has been directed towards increase of piglet number per litter. Since the inverse relation of litter size and birth weight has been well documented, the purpose of this work was to investigate the possible effects of litter size as a factor on pig growth and m. semitendinosus characteristics. Except the statistically significant difference (p=0,05) in number of primary fibers among piglets from small litter (15053) and large litter (11347), litter size did not influence birth weight, or other observed morphological and histological characteristics of the muscle significantly. Similarly, results of this research show that litter size as a factor did not affect final weight, morphological characteristics or fiber type distribution within the muscle in slaughter pigs.
Highlights
Quantity and quality of pig meat are largely depending on structure and growth of skeletal muscles (Picard et al, 2002)
Body weight of newborn piglets was higher in animals from small litters (1,32 kg compared to 1,13 kg), but no statistically significant difference was determined
Pig meat production has been directed towards the increase of number of piglets per litter in the past decades
Summary
Quantity and quality of pig meat are largely depending on structure and growth of skeletal muscles (Picard et al, 2002). Primary fibers occur first, followed by the development of huge number of secondary fibers and some tertiary fibers. Primary fibers transform into STO fibers, while secondary and tertiary fibers will transform into fibers of fast contractile type (Brameld et al, 2008). The number of muscle fibers increases only during first weeks in pigs (Rehfeldt et al, 2000; Rehfeldt et al, 2008; Berard et al, 2011). Muscle weight increases based on hypertrophy – enlargement of girth and length of a muscle fiber (Te Paas et al, 2004). The final weight of the muscle is determined by the number of muscle fibers given at birth, and growth of fibers during production
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