Abstract
Thirty-two Duroc × (Large White × Landrace) barrows of 86.6 kg of body weight (BW) were used to investigate the effect of diet (control or granulated barley) provided during the finishing period on growth performance, meat quality and costs of production. The control diet consisted in a commercial feedstuff and the granulated barley diet consisted in the use of this cereal as only ingredient. The pigs were assigned to pens in groups of two (eight replicates per treatment) and were slaughtered at 130 kg BW. All the animals received the same feeding and management before the trial. No differences were observed for the growth performance and carcass traits between treatments. Pigs fed granulated barley had higher (P < 0.01) feed conversion ratio but lower production costs per kg of live (P < 0.001) and carcass (P < 0.01) weight than those on the control diet. The intramuscular fat (IMF) percentage in Longissimus dorsi muscle tended to be higher (P = 0.07) and had higher (P < 0.01) C18:1n-9 and total monounsaturated fatty acid (FA) percentages and lower (P < 0.05) C17:0, C17:1, C18:2n-6, C18:3n-3, C20:3n-9, Sn-6, Sn-3 and total polyunsaturated FA proportions in pigs fed granulated barley than in the control pigs. It is concluded that the use of barley as single ingredient in the diet provided during the finishing period of pigs may increase the IMF percentage, the C18:1n-9 proportion in IMF and some colour parameters of meat.
Highlights
Spain is the world leader in dry-cured hams and shoulders with a total production of 46 million pieces in 2008
Despite the known quality of Teruel ham and of shoulder and loin, consumers judge that these products have a moderate score in flavour and aroma (6 on 10 points) suggesting that it could be due to the low content in intramuscular fat (IMF) (Calvo et al, 2009)
The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the use of barley as single ingredient in the diet provided from 86 kg body weight (BW) to slaughter on production results, carcass characteristics and meat and fat quality in heavy pigs intended for PO Teruel ham
Summary
Spain is the world leader in dry-cured hams and shoulders with a total production of 46 million pieces in 2008. The only dry-cured ham trademark accepted by the Spanish government (Protected Origin, PO) from traditional heavy white pigs is «Teruel ham». The pig crossbreeding used for Teruel ham production is Duroc × (Large White × Landrace) and the regulation of PO Teruel ham (BOA, 1993) establishes a minimum of 84 kg for carcass weight and of 16 mm for fat thickness over the Gluteus medius (GM) muscle to improve the uniformity and quality of the end product. Despite the known quality of Teruel ham and of shoulder and loin, consumers judge that these products have a moderate score in flavour and aroma (6 on 10 points) suggesting that it could be due to the low content in intramuscular fat (IMF) (Calvo et al, 2009). A negative association between dietary vitamin A and IMF proportion has been found in cattle (Siebert et al, 2006) and pigs (D’Souza et al, 2003)
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