Influence of sex and castration on carcass and meat quality parameters in pigs

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of sex and castration on carcass and meat quality parameters. The experiment was conducted on 100 commercial market pigs (53 barrows, 31 gilts and 16 boars) derived from crossing Naima sows with hybrids P- 76 PenArLan boars. Within carcass quality parameters were measured hot carcass weight, fat carcass thickness at two points (on the back and at the sacrum) and meatiness (in percentages and kilograms). Meat quality measurements were carried out on muscle Longissimus dorsi (LD). Value of pH and temperature were measured 60 minutes (pH60min and t60min) and 24 hours post mortem (pH24h). Marbling and sensory color were assessed after 24 hours post mortem using the scaling method. Results showed that lean meat content was significantly lower in barrows (43.14 %) compared to gilts (44.17 %) and boars (45.06 %). Fat carcass thickness was significantly the highest in barrows and significantly the lowest in boars. Values of pH (pH60min and pH24h), temperature, marbling and sensory color did not differ among compared groups. This suggests that boars had a slight advantage in carcass quality while differences in meat quality were not pronounced among compared groups.