Qualitative characteristics of carcass, meat and subcutaneous fat of commercial heavy pigs raised indoors and outdoors

บทคัดย่อ

Importance of the work: Usually, heavy commercial pigs are raised indoors,
with limited information available on the meat and fat characteristics in such animals
reared outdoors.
Objectives: To examine how the farming system (FS; outdoors versus indoors)
and sex affect the carcass, meat and lard characteristics in heavy commercial pigs.
Materials and Methods: In total, 24 animals, 10 barrows and 14 gilts (Italian Duroc ×
TalentTopigs crossed with Landrace × Large White) were reared in two sex-balanced FS
groups under a factorial experimental design (with FS and sex as fixed factors). The pigs
were slaughtered when they had reached the standard hot carcass weight for heavy-pig
production. Meat characteristics were assessed in the longissimus lumborum muscle and
the lard was analyzed for its proximate and fatty acid (FA) profile.
Results: Rearing pigs outdoors resulted in slower growth than those raised indoors,
with a lower percentage of lean carcass mass (48.8% versus 51.1%, respectively;
p = 0.05) and a redder meat (3.66 versus 2.19, respectively; p < 0.01) which tended to be
tougher (35.9 N versus. 31.2 N, respectively; p = 0.06), due to the lower soluble collagen
content (34.0% versus 43.5%, respectively; p = 0.03). However, the lard of the outdoors
pigs had a lower saturated FA content than for the indoor-raised pigs (41.13% versus
42.43%, respectively; p = 0.04). Gilts had loins and lard with higher polyunsaturated FA
contents than the barrows (20.51% versus 19.11%, respectively; p = 0.01).
Main finding: Both sex and FS impacted the nutritional and technological characteristics
of carcass, meat and lard of the pigs. Outdoor farming improved the lard nutritional
quality but produced firmer, darker meat and a lower carcass yield. The lard analysis
provided insights for developing niche markets, underlining the importance of the
production method in meat and fat quality.