Effects of a Dietary Chitosan-Alginate-Fe(II) Complex on Meat Quality of Pig Longissimus Muscle during Ageing

Abstract

The current study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary chitosan-alginate-Fe(II) complex (CAFC) supplementation on carcass and meat qualities of pig m. longissimus during chiller ageing. One hundred and twenty-two LYD (Landrace×Yorkshire×Duroc) pigs were sampled from an industrial population. Seventy-four pigs (32 gilts and 42 barrows) were administered 3 ml of dietary supplementation of CAFC per day from 25 to 70 days of age, while the remaining 48 pigs (20 gilts and 28 barrows) were fed the same commercial feeding regime without the supplementation. For assessing the dietary effects on pH, objective meat color, cooking loss, water-holding capacity (WHC), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), volatile basic nitrogen (VBN) and fatty acid composition during ageing, 20 barrows (10 of each treatment) were randomly sampled, and aged for 3, 7, 12, 16, 20 and 25 days in a 1°C chiller. The results showed that CAFC-fed pigs required approximately 10 fewer feeding days than the control group. Furthermore, the treatment resulted in greatly higher carcass grade whereby the grade A was increased by approximately 35% and 7% for gilts and barrows, respectively. The treatment had no significant effect (p>0.05) on pH, meat color and WHC during ageing. On the other hand, the CAFC-fed pigs showed significantly (p<0.05) lower TBARS values from 20 days of storage. In addition, the sum of unsaturated fatty acids for the treated group was significantly (p<0.05) higher than that for the control group after the storage time. This implied that CAFC supplementation could reduce the formation of free radicals in fatty acids (i.e., lipid oxidation). The treatment also significantly (p<0.05) retarded VBN formation during ageing, indicating a significant reduction in protein degradation. However, as there was no difference in pH between the two groups, the result raised a possibility that antibacterial activity of the CAFC alone could cause reduction in the formation of TBARS and VBN. In this regard, although the treatment effectively slowed down the formation of TBARS and TBA during chiller ageing, it was not resolved whether that was associated with the direct effect of the antioxidant function of chitosan and/or alginate, or a consequence of their antibacterial functions.

Chito-oligosaccharides as an Alternative to Antimicrobials in Improving Performance, Digestibility and Microbial Ecology of the Gut in Weanling Pigs

“…Recent studies indicated that converting chitin and chitosan to water-soluble oligosaccharides improved its biological activities. Studies showed that chitosans had antitumor activity (Suzuki et al, 1986;Tsukada et al, 1990), antifungal activity (Park et al, 2005) and antimicrobial activity (Uchida et al, 1989;Jeon et al, 2001). Chitosans possessed a lot of polycationic amines that interacted with the negatively charged residues of macromolecules on the cell surface of bacteria and inhibit their growth (Young and Kauss, 1983).…”

Effect of carbohydrate supplementation provided through drinking water during feed withdrawal on meat and liver colours in broilers

“…Pre‐harvest feed withdrawal increased fillet lightness and yellowness and decreased redness 2, 5. Furthermore, meat quality traits in broilers,14 turkeys15 and pigs16, 17 are affected by stressful pre‐slaughter conditions. Feed withdrawal prior to slaughter affects not only carcass yield and quality but also edible inner organ yield and quality, including liver colour 4, 10, 13.…”

Effects of chito-oligosaccharides supplementation on performance, nutrient digestibility, pork quality and immune response in growing-finishing pigs

“…Kim et al (1999) found that the growth performance was similar in growing and fi nishing pigs fed diet containing 0.03% of chitosan as compared with pigs fed diets with or without antibiotic. Pigs supplemented with 3 ml of chitosan-alginate-Fe (II) complex in water attained market body weight 10 days earlier than those fed with control diet (Park et al, 2005). The addition of COS at the level of 0.2 and 0.1%, respectively, in starter and grower diets of pigs, had no effect on the growth performance; however, the level of 0.3% reduced feed intake and improved feed:gain in weanling pigs (Han et al, 2007).…”