Effect of walking exercise on physiological response and carcass quality of fattening pigs

Present experiment was conducted to learn the effect of walking exercise (accumulated distance : 60 km) on physiological response and carcass quality of fattening pigs. Six crossbred (LWD) pigs, 4 barrows and 2 females, were used in this study and they were 150 days-old weighing 72.2+-1.9 kg. Animals were classified into following two groups under the same mean body weight and same sex ratio : the free-moving group as a control and the walking exercise group. Experimental period was 40 days. The pigs in the control group had a time moving freely in their pen and the pigs in walking exercise group forced to walk in the distance of 1,500 m under the fixed speed at once in a day during the experimental period. The walking course was in the piggery and course size was follows ; long side : 20m, short side : 10 m, one lap : 60 m. Heart rate, respiration rate, rectal temperature and body surface temperature were determined as a physiological response. Their determination was conducted at 5 times every 10 days from start point to finish of experiment (190 days-old). Condition of physiological response determination was quiet in the control and quiet before exercise and immediately of exercise in walking exercise group. Body size measurement was also conducted in the same days. Carcass weight, carcass width, carcass length and back fat thickness were determined after slaughtering in the finish point of experiment. The values of physiological response except for heart rate tended to be large in accordance with walking exercise period, but the heart rate tended to be small oppositely. In the gain of body size that was obtained in comparison with start point and finish point, body length gain in the walking exercise group was significantly (P0.05) smaller than that of control group. There was no significant difference in the other results, while the chest depth, chest circumference, chest width and back width in the walking exercise group showed small values and cannon circumference, withers height and front width in the walking exercise group showed large values. Carcass weight, carcass width, carcass length and back fat thickness were also showed no significant difference, but the back fat thickness tended to be thin by the walking exercise.