Meat Palatability of Duroc and Chinese First-Cross Barrows

Abstract

Duroc, Meishan, Fengjing and Minzhu boars were mated to White composite gilts. Trained sensory panel evaluation and Warner-Bratzler shear force determinations were made on chops that had been aged 4 days postmortem. No differences (P > 0.05) were found in juiciness, connective tissue amount, flavor intensity, tenderness or shear force values among sire breeds. No differences (P > 0.05) were detected in cooking losses, although meat from the Duroc-sired pigs cooked at a faster (P < 0.05) rate, but required longer cooking (P < 0.05) times than that from the other sire breeds. These data indicate the introduction of currently available Chinese genetics into the U.S. swine population would have little effect on the palatability of pork loin chops.