Combining genetic and nutritional strategies improve the intrinsic and extrinsic qualities of pork

Bénédicte Lebret (1) , Sihem Lhuisset (1) , Etienne Labussiere (1) , Anne Connan (2) , Isabelle Louveau (1)

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

To develop pig production practices that aim to improve the intrinsic (sensory, nutritional) and extrinsic qualities of pork (relocation of feed resources), we evaluated the effects of genetic and nutritional factors on growth performance and on carcass and pork quality. A total of 60 female pigs from two genotypes [LW × LD] × Piétrain NN (P, noncarrier of the n allele of the RYR1 (halothane) gene) or [LW × LD] × Duroc (D) were submitted to two different feeding regimen. Pigs were divided into 4 experimental groups (n=15/group) at 30 kg body weight (BW). The PC and DC groups received a control diet (C) including oilseed meal, while the PR and DR groups received a ‘Roc+’ (R) diet including extruded faba bean as major protein source and extruded linseed as source of n-3 fatty acids (FA). The animals were raised in individual pens and fed ad libitum from 30-115 kg BW, with nutritional intake (digestible lysine : net energy ratio) being adjusted weekly to the average requirements of pigs within each group. Growth rate, feed efficiency and slaughter BW were higher for D vs P pigs (P<0.001) and, to a lesser extent, for R vs C (P<0.05) pigs. D pigs exhibited lower carcass lean meat content, lower proportions of ham and loin and higher proportions of belly and backfat than P pigs (P<0.01), whereas carcass traits were not influenced by the diet. Loin meat (Longissimus muscle) from D pigs had lower drip loss, higher ultimate pH and higher intramuscular fat content (P<0.05), and was judged to be more marbled, tender and juicer by trained panellists (P<0.01) than that from P pigs. The diet did not influence the sensory traits but improved the nutritional value of pork by markedly reducing the n-6:n-3 and saturated:n-3 FA ratios (P<0.001) in both loin and backfat tissue. The combination of D genotype and R diet improves the sensory and nutritional properties of meat while contributing to the relocation of the production of feed resources, thus improving the intrinsic and extrinsic qualities of pork in a farm to fork strategy.

Domaines: Science des productions animales

Bénédicte Lebret, Sihem Lhuisset, Etienne Labussiere, Anne Connan, Isabelle Louveau. Combining genetic and nutritional strategies improve the intrinsic and extrinsic qualities of pork. 72. Annual meeting of the european federation of animal science (EAAP), EAAP, Aug 2021, Davos, Switzerland. pp.337. ⟨hal-03356773⟩