Abstract
Simple SummaryIn recent years, pigs involved in the dry-cured ham production system have suffered from excessive leanness. This has led to the increase of slaughter weight (SW) to achieve greater carcass and ham fatness statuses to compensate for the loss in dry-curing aptitude. The production guidelines for the production of Italian dry-cured ham are currently under revision and an extension of the range of carcass weights from 126 to 168 kg, corresponding to about 146 to 210 kg of SW, has been proposed. However, little is known about the influence of SW in the range of 140–200 kg on growth performance, feed efficiency, carcass quality and ham curing aptitude. We hypothesized that an increased SW could exert a positive influence on ham characteristics. Data from 159 pigs fed ad libitum with diets, unlimiting for nutrient contents, up to 8 or 9 months of age (140–200 kg SW) were used. Greater SWs were linearly and positively associated with the growth performance of the pigs and with better ham quality traits. Greater SW increased ham weight, muscularity, and greater fat covering, according to the dry-cured ham industry’s expectations. Barrows produced hams with greater weight and marbling than gilts.Slaughter weight (SW) is critical for dry-cured ham production systems with heavy pigs. A total of 159 C21 Goland pigs (gilts and barrows) at 95 ± 9.0 kg body weight (BW) from three batches were used to investigate the impact of ad libitum feeding on SW, growth performance, feed efficiency, and carcass and green ham characteristics. Diets contained 10 MJ/kg of net energy and 7.4 and 6.0 g/kg of SID-lysine. Slaughter weight classes (SWC) included <165, 165–180, 180–110 and >210 kg BW. In each batch, pigs were sacrificed at 230 or 258 d of age. Left hams were scored for round shape, fat cover thickness, marbling, lean colour, bicolour and veining. Data were analyzed with a model considering SWC, sex and SWC × Sex interactions as fixed factors and the batch as a random factor. The linear, quadratic and cubic effects of SWC were tested, but only linear effects were found. Results showed that pigs with greater SWC had greater average daily gain and feed consumption, with similar feed efficiency and better ham quality traits: greater ham weight, muscularity, and fat coveringin correspondence of semimembranosus muscle. Barrows were heavier and produced hams with slightly better characteristics than gilts.
Highlights
The major limitation for increases in pig slaughter weights (SWs) is increases in carcass adiposity and the worsening of feed efficiency with increasing Slaughter weight (SW) [1]
This paper aimed to study, in groups of pigs fed ad libitum and selected for dry-cured ham production, the relationships between SW, growth performance, feed efficiency, and carcass and green ham characteristics
The lighter Slaughter weight classes (SWC) were represented in greater proportion by YA pigs, and the heavier SWC by the GW pigs
Summary
The major limitation for increases in pig slaughter weights (SWs) is increases in carcass adiposity and the worsening of feed efficiency with increasing SW [1]. Have indicated that modern, high-lean-gain genotypes have the potential to be slaughtered at heavier weights with less effect on carcass merit and (or) feed conversion efficiency compared with low-lean-gain genotypes. For dry-cured ham production, adequate fat covering and marbling are required, so the pigs must be slaughtered at heavy weights, often greater than 130 kg [3,4] In these production conditions, an increase in SW is considered a potential strategy to compensate for the increased leanness of modern pig genotypes [5]. In the Italian dry-cured ham production circuits, an SW of 160 ± 16 kg and a minimum age of nine months are indicated by the official production guidelines [6] To comply with these prescriptions with modern pig genotypes, restricted feeding is required [7]. This is an inefficient strategy, and a progressive increase in SW has been observed in this production system INEQ [8]
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