Sex effects on carcass characteristics, meat quality traits and meat amino acid and fatty acid compositions in a novel Duroc line pig

Effects of slaughter weight on carcass characteristics, meat quality, and metabolomics profiling in the longissimus dorsi muscle of Tianfu finishing pigs

In order to investigate the effect of slaughter weight (SW) on carcass characteristics and meat quality, we measured the carcass characteristics, meat quality, and amino acid metabolomics characteristics of longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle from Tianfu finishing (TF) pigs. Based on SW, 13 pigs were divided into three groups (100-kg group, 125-kg group, and 150-kg group with 3, 5, 5 pigs in each group, respectively). Raising SW to 125 kg or 150 kg increased average backfat thickness (P < 0.01) and intramuscular fat content (P < 0.01), and decreased shear force (P < 0.01). A total of 231 amino acid metabolome from three amino acid classes identified with metabolomics were analyzed, and 93 differentially expressed metabolites (DEMs) were identified (69 up-regulated DEMs and 24 down-regulated DEMs). The DEMs, including urea, 3-iodo-L-tyrosine, N-glycyl-L-leucine, and N, N-dimethylglycine with amino acid metabolism, were significantly induced (P < 0.01). KEGG pathway analysis showed that these DEMs were significantly enriched (P < 0.01) in 135 metabolism pathways, including pathways related to amino acid metabolism, such as arginine and proline metabolism, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, tryptophan metabolism, and beta-alanine metabolism. Our research findings provided new insights into the impact of SW on amino acid distribution and theoretical support for genetic breeding of meat quality of TF pigs. However, raising SW to 125 kg, or more, decreased the carcass leanness of live TF pigs and had no benefits to pork quality attributes.

Effect of prudent use of antimicrobials in the early phase of infection in pigs on the performance and meat quality of fattening pigs

The presented study was a part of the ThermoEye project. The study examined the effect of prudent antibiotic treatment in response to illness on the fattening performance, slaughter traits, and meat quality of the pig fatteners. Pigs were divided into an experimental group - EXP and a control - CON. In both groups, the body temperature was monitored, and diseases were confirmed by a veterinarian. In the EXP group, metaphylaxis was used in each case of confirmed disease. The EXP fatteners had greater slaughter weight (by 4.7 kg) and meatiness (by 2.1 percentage points) compared to the CON pigs. The pH in pork was lower in EXP compared to CON pigs. The longissimus thoracis et lumborum of EXP pigs was characterised by a lower cooking loss (28.30 vs. 30.45%) and yellower colour compared to the CON group. Among the amino acids, only the content of histidine (by 5.2%; P < 0.01) and tyrosine (by 7.2%; P < 0.01) was significantly greater in the meat of the CON group compared to EXP, with no effect of sex noted. The content of SFA (by 14.6%; P < 0.05), UFA (by 15.6%; P < 0.05), MUFA (by 17.8%; P < 0.05), MCFA (by 14.1%; P < 0.05), and LCFA (by 15.6%; P < 0.05) was also greater in CON compared to EXP meat. In conclusion, automated monitoring of pig body temperature during the fattening period enables more precise, prudent treatment and effective animal health control while reducing costs due to disease losses and pharmacotherapy. It allows optimal production and affects meat quality.

Genome-wide association analysis explores the genetic loci of amino acid content in duck's breast muscle

BACKGROUND

Amino acids are the basic components of protein and an important index to evaluate meat quality. With the rapid development of genomics, candidate regions and genes affecting amino acid content in livestock and poultry have been gradually revealed. Hence, genome-wide association study (GWAS) can be used to screen candidate loci associated with amino acid content in duck meat.

RESULT

In the current study, the content of 16 amino acids was detected in 358 duck breast muscles. The proportion of Glu to the total amino acid content was relatively high, and the proportion was 0.14. However, the proportion of Met content was relatively low, at just 0.03. By comparative analysis, significant differences were found between males and females in 3 amino acids, including Ser, Met, and Phe. In addition, 12 SNPs were significantly correlated with Pro content by GWAS analysis, and these SNPs were annotated by 7 protein-coding genes; 8 significant SNPs were associated with Tyr content, and these SNPs were annotated by 6 protein-coding genes. At the same time, linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis was performed on these regions with significant signals. The results showed that three SNPs in the 55-56 Mbp region of chromosome 3 were highly correlated with the leader SNP (chr3:55526954) that affected Pro content (r2 > 0.6). Similarly, LD analysis showed that there were three SNPs in the 21.2-21.6 Mbp region of chromosome 13, which were highly correlated with leader SNP (chr13:21421661) (r2 > 0.6). Moreover, Through functional enrichment analysis of all candidate genes. The results of GO enrichment analysis showed that several significant GO items were associated with amino acid transport function, including amino acid transmembrane transport and glutamine transport. The results further indicate that these candidate genes are closely associated with amino acid transport. Among them, key candidate genes include SLC38A1. For KEGG enrichment analysis, CACNA2D3 and CACNA1D genes were covered by significant pathways.

CONCLUSION

In this study, GWAS analysis found a total of 28 significant SNPs affecting amino acid content. Through gene annotation, a total of 20 candidate genes were screened. In addition, Through LD analysis and enrichment analysis, we considered that SERAC1, CACNA2D3 and SLC38A1 genes are important candidate genes affecting amino acid content in duck breast muscle.

Evaluation of different percentages of Duroc genes and gender on growth, carcass and meat quality traits for pigs

The effect of different percentages of Duroc genes in crossbreeding (5, 50 and 100%), the gender (immunocastrated males - ICM and females) and their interaction was evaluated on growth, carcass and meat quality traits for pigs. Crossbreds (50% Duroc) had greater average daily feed intake, hot carcass weight and backfat thickness but lower meat yield when compared to 5% Duroc crossbreds and purebred (100% Duroc) animals (P < 0.05). Purebred (100% Duroc) animals had the lowest backfat thickness and subcutaneous fat thickness, and the greatest muscle depth and meat yield (P < 0.05). ICM animals had better feed conversion, greater average daily gain, hot carcass weight and amount of meat, and lower hot carcass yield, cold carcass weight, Longissimus thoracis depth, rib with belly and ham weights compared to females (P < 0.05). Marbling scores were greater in purebred (100%) animals (P < 0.05). The meat from 50% Duroc crossbreds and 100% Duroc purebred pigs was more reddish pink in color than 5% Duroc crossbreds (P < 0.05). Also, marbling scores were greater for females compared to ICM (P < 0.05). Purebred (100% Duroc) animals required more medications during production (P < 0.05).

Effect of guanidine acetic acid on meat quality, muscle amino acids, and fatty acids in Tibetan pigs

This study investigated the effects of guanidine acetic acid (GAA) supplementation on growth performance, carcass traits, and meat quality in Tibetan pigs. A total of 18 male Tibetan pigs (21.35 ± 0.99 kg) were randomly assigned to the control (basal diet) and GAA (basal diet + 800 mg/kg GAA) groups for 125 days. Growth performance, carcass traits, and meat quality in pigs, and the chemical composition of Longissimus thoracis (LT) were not altered by GAA. In LT, compared to the control group, dietary GAA increased the superoxide dismutase activity, transcripts of stearoyl CoA desaturase (SCD) and fatty acid synthase (FAS), and contents of glutamate, glutamine, C24:0, C20:3n-6, C20:4n-6, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (P < 0.05), but it decreased the malondialdehyde content (P < 0.001). In back fat, dietary GAA reduced the transcript of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) and the contents of C10:0, C12:0, C14:0, and C16:0 (P < 0.05), whereas it increased the contents of C22:0, C20:1, C22:1, C24:1, C20:2, C20:3n-3, and C22:2 (P < 0.05). These findings will provide a basis for high-quality Tibetan pork production.