The carcass composition of male, castrated male and female pigs resulting from two levels of feeding

Abstract

SUMMARYAn anatomical study compared the effects of sex and a twofold nutritional difference in growth rate between 20 and 100 kg live weight, on 63 entire males, castrated male and female Large White × Landrace pigs. While the effect of growth rate was significant for overall fat deposition in the carcasses of all three sexes, it was greatest for the entire male. In contrast, sex and nutritional effects on the distribution of fat and on the proportion and distribution of muscle and bone were small.