An experiment was conducted to study the effect of dietary electrolytic balance (dEB) and addition of sodium bicarbonate to drinking water on carcass and meat quality of pigs. Sodium bicarbonate was used to adjust dEB to 140, 200 and 280 mEq/kg for T1, T2 and T, respectively. 144 Landrace*Duroc male pigs were allocated at 4 per pen and used until 105 kg liveweight. At the end pigs were kept in the same pens and diets for a week during which sodium bicarbonate rich water was supplied to a half of them. Therefore the experimental design was split in a factorial 2x3 and treated water was administered until slaughter. Forty-eight pigs were selected and sent to the slaughterhouse in order to evaluate the effect of experimental treatments on carcass and meat quality parameters. Enriched water significantly increase urine pH, hot and cold carcass weight and killing-out percentage (P<0.01). However did not affect fat or loin depth, lean meat percentage or chilling losses as well as meat quality parameters. pH of muscles Semimembranosus (SM) or Longissimus thoraccis (LT) measured at 45 min were not affected by dEB. However meat pH measured after 24 h statistically increased in both SM (P<0.01) and LT muscles (P<0.05). Pigs fed with low dEB showed a pH indicating meat with a tendency to become acid (5.5<pH<5.6) whereas meat from pigs of the other 2 groups has good ability to be consumed fresh or transformed. Electrical conductivity of SM muscle also indicated better meat quality of pigs fed medium and high dEB (P<0.05). Drip loss from the meat was also strongly reduced as a consequence of dEB (P<0.02). Meat from pigs fed low dEB lost the double of water than meat from pigs fed medium or high dEB. It can be concluded that dEB supplementation could positively affect meat quality parameters like pH 24h, electrical conductivity or drip losses. All these parameters were improved using finishing diets with a medium (200 mEq/kg) or high dEB (280 mEq/kg). Sodium bicarbonate in drinking water before slaughter did not seem to affect meat quality parameters. Nevertheless, it seems that it could improve carcass weight or killing-out percentage but those results need to be confirmed in other trials.

To assess this study, weaned piglets (at 28 days) received three dietary treatments until 39 days of age: (1) 12,5 mg alpha tocopheryl acetate/kg feed (2) 6,75 mg/l d-alpha tocopherol in drinking water (ratio 1:2) (3) 4,5 mg/l d-alpha tocopherol in drinking water (ratio 1:3). Alpha- Tocoferol accumulation was not significantly affected in any of the tissues analysed which would indicate a more efficient absorption of natural vitamin E in drinking water than the synthetic source in feed. Moreover, the lowest supplementation in drinking water (group 1:3) led to similar concentrations of vitamin E in tissues than the group supplemented with higher concentration (group 1:2). Consequently, when weaned piglets are fed under the minimum established requirements the minimum natural vitamin E supplementation to produce an equivalent tissues vitamin E concentration would be establish at 1:3 (water:feed).