Caractéristiques des porcs mâles non castrés en agriculture biologique

International audience

Английский. Characteristics of uncastrated male pigs in organic farming.Breeding uncastrated males is a simple alternative to castration that respects animal welfare and produces pigs that are better valued and have a higher feed-conversion ratio. However, this practice is little known in organic farming. This retrospective study examined the growth, mortality, yield and carcass quality traits of 1390 male pigs produced since March 2020 on an experimental organic pig farm. These pigs were born from 50 Large-White sows, over three generations, that had been artificially inseminated with semen from Large-White or Piétrain boars. Pigs were slaughtered at a mean age of 180 ± 15.1 days, with a mean live weight of 123.8 ± 10.6 kg. For comparison, the same traits were also measured for 1202 female pigs. The frequency of males detected as malodorous at the slaughterhouse was lower than expected, with only 13 pigs downgraded (i.e. 0.9%). We present the effects of year, season and genetic type. The average daily gain was 912 ± 118 g during growth (from 70 days of age). The yields (hot weight/live weight) were 1.1 kg lower in males than in females. The lean meat content was 1 percent point higher in males than in females, due to the former's lower fat thicknesses (G3, G4). As the males had a growth performance equivalent to that of females, a lean meat content higher than that of females and very low frequency of downgrading due to odour, breeding of non-castrated males in organic farming is a viable option.

Французский. L’élevage de mâles non castrés est une alternative à la castration, simple et respectueuse du bien-être animal, qui permet la production de porcs mieux valorisés avec un meilleur indice de consommation (Buchet et al., 2022). En agriculture biologique, cette pratique est peu développée et des fréquences élevées de mâles odorants sont attendues en raison d’un abattage plus tardif des animaux et d’un élevage sur paille (Prunier, 2021). L’objectif de cette étude est de présenter les fréquences de détection de mâles odorants à l’abattoir ainsi que les caractéristiques d’élevage et de carcasse des mâles non castrés dans un élevage expérimental en agriculture biologique (AB).