Effect of piglet castration with nonsurgical sterilant on the zootechnical performance and pork carcass quality

Abstract

A non-surgical sterilant (NSS) was used with the objective of assessing the zootechnical performance, carcass and meat quality, and hormone levels. 90 male piglets were selected with birthweights varying between 1.5kg to 2.0kg. The control group was constituted of 45 males castrated by the conventional surgical method, at the seventh day of age, and the treated group was constituted of 45 males castrated with NSS (active principle of zinc gluconate in the concentration of 26.2mg/mL associated to the dimethyl sulfoxide at 0.5%), with the application of the first dose on the seventh day of age and the second dose on the fourteenth day of age. The zootechnical assessments were carried out on the farm and consisted: weight gain in the periods per animal and feed conversion. The slaughter of the animals and the assessment of the carcass and meat quality and hormone levels were carried out in a slaughterhouse and the municipality of Campinas (SP). The study demonstrated that the use of NSS was a viable alternative in relation to the zootechnical performance and the carcass quality. In relation to the meat quality there was no significant difference in the majority of the assessed parameters.Keywords: swine, zinc gluconate, androstenone, feed conversion, carcass yield RESUMO Foi utilizado esterilizante não cirúrgico (ENC) com

Considerações sobre castração de suínos machos

“…A imunocastração destaca-se como uma dessas opções (DEMORI et al, 2015). Essa técnica atende às normas de bem-estar animal, sendo utilizada para aliviar a dor em suínos (MARTINS, et al, 2013;BRUNO et al, 2013;LUCAS et al, 2016).…”

“…Em outra pesquisa foram apresentados bons resultados, utilizando o gluconato de zinco associado ao DMSO (dimetil sulfóxido) (LUCAS et al, 2016), sendo que o gluconato de zinco é bastante empregado na castração química de outras espécies como o cão e o gato (OLIVEIRA et al, 2012;FAGUNDES et al, 2014;LOPES e SILVA, 2014).…”

Is clove essencial oil (Eugenia caryophyllata) able to chemically castrate newborn pigs?

“…Sclerosing agents are described in the literature for having a potential sterilizing effect, such as calcium chloride (KOGER, 1978), clove essential oil (ABSHENAS et al, 2013;ABU-AHMED, 2015), zinc gluconate associated with DMSO (Dimethyl sulfoxide) (LUCAS et al, 2016).…”

The Use of Vocalization Signals to Estimate the Level of Pain in Piglets

“…Marchant et al (2009) evaluated alternative methods to the painful process such as the tail trimming, marking, and castration. Immune castration is an alternative to usual castration nowadays often used to alleviate the pain in pigs (Martins, et al, 2013;Bruno et al, 2013;Lucas et al, 2016). The use of anesthetics to decrease the pain caused by these procedures might be a good alternative (Bates et al, 2014;Herskin et al, 2016;Bonastre et al, 2016).…”