Improving pork quality traits by a short-term dietary methionine supplementation at levels above growth requirements in finisher pigs

Bénédicte Lebret (1) , Dolores I. Batonon-Alavo (2) , Marie-Hélène Perruchot (1) , Yves Mercier (2) , Florence Gondret (1)

1 PEGASE - Physiologie, Environnement et Génétique pour l'Animal et les Systèmes d'Elevage [Rennes]
2 Adisseo France SAS

The effects of dietary methionine (Met) supplies above growth requirements on tissue biology and pork quality were studied. At 70 kg, 45 crossbred pigs were fed a control (CONT) diet adequate in Met (0.22% Met) up to 105 kg. For the last 14 days before slaughter, pigs were fed with the CONT diet or with diets where the Met level was increased to Met3 (0.66% Met) or Met5 (1.10% Met). Growth performance and carcass composition did not change with the treatment. Pigs fed the Met5 treatment displayed lower TBARS and higher glutathione levels (P ≤ .05), along with higher ultimate pH (P < .01) and lower drip, lightness and hue (P ≤ .10) in the longissimus muscle, compared to the CONT and Met3 pigs. Extra-dietary Met improved ham's technological quality in the Met3 and Met5 groups (P ≤ .05). Thus, dietary Met supplementation improves pork quality without impairing growth or carcass traits.

Mots clés: HMTBA; swine; meat; amino acid; technological quality

Mots clés: porc; muscle; viande; acide aminé; glutathion; qualité technologique; capacité antioxydante

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Bénédicte Lebret, Dolores I. Batonon-Alavo, Marie-Hélène Perruchot, Yves Mercier, Florence Gondret. Improving pork quality traits by a short-term dietary methionine supplementation at levels above growth requirements in finisher pigs. Meat Science, 2018, 145, pp.230-237. ⟨10.1016/j.meatsci.2018.06.040⟩. ⟨hal-01827949⟩