Body weight and ultrasound measurements over the finishing period in Iberian and F1 Large White × Landrace pigs raised intensively or in free-range conditions

Carcass Composition and Physicochemical Characteristics of Meat from Pork Chains Based on Native and Hybrid Pigs

“…In all dissected cuts, pigs from the NAT chain had higher weights and shares of fat tissue, demonstrating their ability to deposit adipose tissue, especially in terms of subcutaneous and intermuscular fat. This greater affinity for the accretion of adipose tissue is even more pronounced at higher slaughter weights when the proportion of adipose tissue increases and lean tissue declines [37]. In the present study, pigs were slaughtered at approximately 160 kg LW, which is considered to be optimal for the production of dry/cured products [38], so a higher share of adipose tissue in all dissected parts of the carcasses originating from both pork chains was observed.…”

Free-Range and Low-Protein Concentrated Diets in Iberian Pigs: Effect on Plasma Insulin and Leptin Concentration, Lipogenic Enzyme Activity, and Fatty Acid Composition of Adipose Tissue

“…In the same way, backfat thickness and backfat thickness increase were not affected by diet, showing that low-crude-protein diets did not result in fatter carcasses, in agreement with the data from previous studies in heavy [ 7 , 13 ] and lighter [ 8 , 38 ] pigs. Furthermore, other authors [ 32 , 39 ] reported that total backfat thickness and the different backfat layers thickness were no influenced by the feeding of Iberian pigs in extensive or intensive conditions. In the same way, these authors reported a slight increase over the finished fattening period in the external subcutaneous layer compared to the medium and internal ones, the medium layer representing nearly 60% of the total backfat [ 39 ].…”

“…The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of a protein-restricted diet on the lipogenic response of the main fat depots of Iberian pigs carcasses, such as subcutaneous and perirenal fat [ 31 ]. Subcutaneous fat tissue in pigs consists of two or three layers (SC1, SC2, and SC3), depending on the carcass point [ 24 ], with differences in allometry coefficients and the composition between them [ 32 ], which suggests that it would be better to study the composition of individual fat layers as an indicator of carcass composition [ 33 ]. However, the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery, and Food established a procedure to take backfat samples in Iberian pigs from the area of tail insertion in the coxal region of the carcass (TB), where no differentiation between the different layers is observed [ 34 ], in order to avoid the possible error that would be made if only one of the layers were sampled.…”

The impact of genetic groups (Alentejano and F1 Landrace x Large White pigs) and body weight (90, 120 and 160kg) on blood metabolites

“…In the period between 90 and 120 kg, the animals showed daily weight gains of 0.843 and 0.638 g/d for AL and F1, respectively (with a difference of about 24%). In the period between 120 and 160 kg, average values of 0.657 and 0.578 g/d were obtained for AL and F1 pigs, respectively (with a difference of about 12%) (Almeida et al, 2019).…”

“…Iberian pigs are well adapted to natural conditionsperiods of scarcity (summer) followed by periods of high food availability, usually acorn and pastures, during autumn and winter (Rodríguez-Estévez et al, 2009;Tejeda et al, 2020). When compared to commercial breeds Iberian pigs present a very different set of traits, namely their food intake behavior (Martins et al, 2019;Muñoz et al, 2009;Torres-Rovira et al, 2012) and intense energy storage in the form of adipose tissue (Nieto et al, 2002), as abdominal, intramuscular and subcutaneous fat (Almeida et al, 2019;Bressan et al, 2016).…”