A comparison of female and castrate pigs slaughtered at weights above and below 120 kg on carcass traits, intramuscular fat and fatty acid composition of carcasses intended for dry-cured ham and shoulder production

Abstract

The objective of this trial was to study the impact of slaughter weight (SW) class: heavy (≥120 kg) or light (<120 kg) on carcass fatness, development of main lean cuts and fat composition in barrows and gilts intended for dry-cured ham and shoulder elaboration. A total of 181 Duroc × (Landrace × Large White) pigs was used, being 94 barrows and 87 gilts. Carcasses from barrows had lower ham compactness but higher shoulder:ham weight ratio than those from gilts. The allometric growth coefficient of ham was higher in gilts whereas those for shoulder, loin and shoulder/ham were higher in barrows. An interaction sex × SW class was found for carcass fatness; the increase of fat thickness was higher in barrows than in gilts in light SW class but higher in gilts than in barrows in heavy SW class. In addition, the allometric growth coefficients for ham, loin and shoulder:ham ratio were higher in light than in heavy pigs. Percentage of rejected carcasses at slaughterhouse, due to lack of fat thickness, was higher for females than for barrows and for light than for heavy pigs. Sex and SW class had no effect on intramuscular fat content. However, more saturation was found in fat (intramuscular) from barrows and in that (subcutaneous) from light pigs. It can be concluded that carcasses from barrows are commercially more suitable than those from gilts and heavy SW might be more interesting when animals are intended for Teruel dry-cured ham and shoulder production.

Impact of Rearing Strategies on the Metabolizable Energy and SID Lysine Partitioning in Pigs Growing from 90 to 200 kg in Body Weight

“…The barrows had greater cumulative DMI (+3.0%) and final backfat depth (+5.7%) but similar EBW gain compared to gilts. This suggests that barrows had a greater propensity for body fatness than gilts, as is in agreement with previous literature [34,35]. Similarly, few differences between barrows and gilts were observed in the same breed of pigs in a different study [10].…”

The Implications of Changing Age and Weight at Slaughter of Heavy Pigs on Carcass and Green Ham Quality Traits

“…Sex influenced growth performance and carcass characteristics. The effects of sex agreed with previous studies, as the barrows consumed more feed, were less efficient, their carcass was fatter, and their hams were characterized by greater marbling than gilts [2,46,47]. In our previous studies conducted on the same pig genetic line, kept under a restricted feeding regime, some differences due to the sex were observed but they were of a small magnitude [14].…”

Slaughter weight rather than sex affects carcass cuts and tissue composition of Bisaro pigs

“…shoulder chops, thoracic region, loin primal, belly and leg) with increasing the slaughter weight mean up to 79 kg. However, this was not observed in crossbred pigs intended for dry-cured industry, as the ham and loin allometric growth coefficients were lower in heavy than in light pigs (Latorre et al, 2019), and thus, at heavy weights these cuts increased slower than the overall carcass, which was attributed to greater accretion of fat rather than other tissues. It must be pointed out that the simple allometric equation assumes that the growth percentage of each carcass cut and tissue was decreasing, increasing or remaining constant for the whole carcass weight range (10-65 kg) studied.…”