Abstract

RIBEIRO, G. Pacheco; FARINHA, N.; SANTOS, R.  and  NEVES, J. Effect of three differents foodstuffs on the physical and chemical characteristics of the Longissimus dorsi muscle of the Alentejana breed pig. Rev. de Ciências Agrárias [online]. 2007, vol.30, n.1, pp.375-384. ISSN 0871-018X.

With the aim of evaluating the influence of foodstuff in the meat characteristics of the Alentejano pig, bred for fresh meat production, we tested three different foodstuffs: a commercial foodstuff with 3200 kcal of Digestible Energy (DE) per kg and 18,1% Crude Protein (CP), a cereal grain (triticale) with 3300 kcal DE per kg and 13% CP and a mixture of cereal (triticale and oat) with soybean meal with 3200 kcal DE per kg and 17,4% CP. Each foodstuff was fed to the animals in order to supply 4250 kcal/day of DE to animals between 30 and 40 kg of live weight, and then the amount fed increased gradually, up to 6800 kcal/day, when animals weighted between 60 and 70 kg; finally, the supplied energy decreased down to 4800 kcal/day, to animals from 90 to 100 kg of live weight. The experiment was delineated in 2 randomized blocks, with 3 parks per block and 8 animals in each park. The Alentejana breed animals began the experiment weighting 35 kg, and were sacrificed when they reached 100 kg of live weight. After slaughter, samples from the Longissimus dorsi muscle of 4 animals from each park were taken and frozen at -20 ºC. These samples were kept frozen until the analytical procedures took place. The laboratorial determinations were pH, Water Holding Capacity (WHC), colour (CIE LAB), moisture, percentage of intramuscular fat, and total pigments. The results for pH, WHC, colour, intramuscular lipids and total pigments did not present significant differences among themselves. As for moisture, animals fed with triticale showed significantly lower values (68,8%) than animals fed with commercial foodstuff and cereal grain (71,1% and 71,3%, respectively), which agrees with their higher percentage of intramuscular fat (even though not statistically different). We concluded that the 3 tested foodstuffs were of little or no influence in the variation of the analysed physicochemical characteristics, but significantly influenced both the amount of muscle and its relative weight in the carcass.

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