Authors
Title
Abstract
Two experiments were conducted during which the quality was analyzed of meat obtained from fatteners kept indoor in pens with or without straw bedding and fed, during fattening, complete diets or diets with addition of alfalfa green forage in summer or alfalfa hay in winter. In every experiment, crossbred fatteners [♀(♀ PL x ♂ PLW) x ♂ (♀ Pietrain x ♂ Duroc) were divided into 4 experimental groups (with 12 pigs each). From pig carcasses, the samples of musculus longissimus dorsi (MLD) were taken in order to determine the basic chemical composition, physicochemical properties, and sensory attributes. A cluster analysis was applied to identify correlations among the selected quality parameters of m. longissimus dorsi. The meat of all the experimental fatteners was characterized by a very high quality, and no defects of PSE or DFD type were reported in any of the carcasses analyzed; however, there was acid meat (AM) found. The cluster analysis performed illustrated appropriately the quality of the raw material obtained. The similar correlations were found among individual features of musculus longissimus dorsi analyzed under the experiment conducted in summer and in winter.
Keywords
pig crossbreds, rearing system, feeding, alfalfa, meat quality, cluster analysis