The meat quality attributes and nutritional composition of three way synthetic pigs meat as influenced by age at slaughter

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate influence of age on the meat quality attributes and nutritional composition of three way synthetic pig (25% Large White Yorkshire x 25% Landrace x 50% Duroc). The meat quality attributes and nutritional composition of two different age groups (six months and one year) were studied. The results obtained in this study indicated that the meat of young pigs had higher water holding capacity, Lightness (L*), moisture, essential amino acids, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, ecosapentaenoic acid, docosohexanoic acid, total poly unsaturated fatty acids (P less than 0.01), total unsaturated fatty acids, poly unsaturated/ saturated fatty acids P/S ratio (P less than 0.01) and lesser fibre diameter (P less than 0.01), myofibrillar fragmentation index (P less tha 0.01), fat (P less than 0.01), total saturated fatty acids and cholesterol content (P less than 0.01) than adult. Based on the results it was concluded that meat of young animals (six months) had superior meat quality than the meat of adult animals (one year).