Effects of gender, sire line, and penning environment on growth, carcass characteristics, and aspects of pork meat quality at different locations in the loin
2006
Mandell, I.B. | Campbell, C.P. | de Lange, C.F.
One hundred and eighty crossbred pigs were used to determine the effects of gender, sire line (Duroc- or two Yorkshire-lines; all mated to Yorkshire sows), and penning environment on growth, carcass characteristics, and pork quality. Loins from all pigs were subdivided into cranial, grade site, and caudal portions to determine the effects of location along the longissimus muscle on pork quality. At approximately 25 kg BW, barrows and gilts were assigned to three penning environments based on feeder type/pig density treatments including FIRE feeder-low density, FIRE feeder-high density, and Conventional feeder-high density. Sire line by penning environment interactions (P < 0.02) were present for final BW, ADG, and days to market suggesting that both within and between breed performance are influenced by rearing environment. Sire line by site of longissimus muscle sampling interactions (P < 0.01) were present for muscle pH at 48 h postmortem, L*, drip loss, and IMF content. Line by site values for L* were associated with drip loss, such that paler meat was associated with greater drip loss. IMF content across longissimus muscle tended to vary less with Duroc sired pigs as compared with Yorkshire sired pigs. There were no line by penning environment interactions on pork quality. The present study demonstrates the importance of both within and between breed differences on performance and pork quality, and the interactive effects of line and penning environment on growth and carcass characteristics.
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