PSXIII-6 Fat deposition in castrated pigs for production of dry-cured ham: Evaluation of nutritional and genetic strategies

Abstract

Abstract Fat deposition is an important trait for the dry-cured ham industry. A minimum ham fat thickness (HFT) is required for adequate processing. The objective of this study was to evaluate two different strategies to meet this minimum requirement, a nutritional and a genetic one. The study involved productive performance of a total of 147,883 animals (barrows and gilts) from 164 farms. The experimental unit for carcass traits harvested was a truck with 200 pigs each. The nutritional strategy consisted in reducing the SID Lys:NE during one month before slaughter in combination with a feed additive to improve meat quality (2500 kcal NE and 8 g SID Lys/kg vs. 2550 kcal NE and 6.5 g SID Lys/kg). Both feeding programs were offered to crossbreds from a lean Duroc sire line with two different synthetic dam lines. The genetic strategy consisted of comparing two crossbred derived from two Duroc sire line (lean vs fat) all fed the same standard finisher diet (2500 kcal NE and 8 g SID Lys/kg). Experimental feeding program impaired FCR by 0.035 kg/kg (P < 0.05), and increased HFT by 0.28 mm (P < 0.01). The fat Duroc sire line impaired FCR by 0.162 kg/kg (P < 0.05) and increased HFT by 0.77 mm (P < 0.001) compared to the lean one. In addition, one of the dam lines showed a greater HFT (P < 0.001) with no effect on FCR. In conclusion, HFT can be increased through nutritional and genetic strategies assuming a negative effect on FCR. The effects were greater by using a genetic strategy (fatter Duroc sire line) than by the nutritional one (decreased SID Lys:NE ratio in a lean Duroc sire line).