A second look at the influence of birth weight on carcass and meat quality in pigs

Posted in: Meat Quality by admin on January 1, 2008 | No Comments

Birth weight and within-litter variation in birth weight are important economic traits in pig production. Genetic selection for large litters during the last decades has lowered mean birth weight, which mainly results from a higher competition of the fetuses in utero reflected also by an inverse correlation of birth weight and litter size (e.g. Milligan, Fraser, & Kramer, 2002; Quiniou, Dagorn, & Gaudre, 2002). Low birth weight, however, is associated with decreased survival and lower postnatal growth rates (e.g. Herpin, Damon, & Le Dividich, 2002; Milligan et al., 2002; Pond & Mersmann, 1988; Quiniou et al., 2002; Ritter & Zschorlich, 1990). In addition, pigs at market weight originating from piglets of low birth weight develop a lower carcass quality in terms of higher fat deposition and lower lean accretion compared with their middle or heavy weight littermates (Bee, 2004; Gondret et al., 2006; Hegarty and Allen, 1978; Kuhn et al., 2002; Poore & Fowden, 2004; Powell and Aberle, 1980, 1981; Rehfeldt and Kuhn, 2006). Low birth weight results from intrauterine growth retardation during gestation. It has been shown previously that small piglets form a lower total number of skeletal muscle fibres during prenatal development compared with their larger littermates (Gondret et al., 2006; Handel & Stickland, 1987; Wigmore & Stickland, 1983). From recent studies, it has been suggested that it is the low number of muscle fibres, which restricts the potential of postnatal lean growth and therefore allows to deposit increased amounts of fat (Rehfeldt & Kuhn, 2006). In addition, tendencies towards lower meat quality in terms of tenderness and water holding capacity have been observed at slaughter, when the piglets were small at birth (Gondret et al., 2005; Gondret et al., 2006; Rehfeldt & Kuhn, 2006), which may be associated with accelerated muscle fibre hypertrophy because of low fibre number. The studies on the influence of birth weight mentioned above have in common, that the number of animals used in the experiments were not very large (5–32 pigs per birth weight group born to 13– 16 sows) and the variation in the traits of interest caused by the dam/litter has not always been considered in the statistical models. Therefore, this study was conducted using a larger set of pigs from 63 litters in total to re-examine the consequences of birth weight for ultimate carcass and meat quality. In order to accomplish this, the offspring (n = 378) of the 63 sows were assigned to three birth weight groups; 25% low weight, 50% middle weight, and 25% heavy weight, with runts (<800 g) being excluded. Low weight pigs exhibited the lowest postnatal growth performance, the lowest lean mass and the greatest degree of fatness in terms of perirenal fat compared with medium weight and heavy weight pigs. Only in females, but not in male castrates, the lean percentage was highest in heavy weight pigs. Characteristics of longissimus muscle technological quality declined either in low weight (pH, drip loss) or heavy weight (conductivity, lightness) compared with medium weight pigs. In contrast, intramuscular fat percentage (IMF) was highest in low weight pigs. The results suggest that the most desirable carcass composition is obtained with heavy weight pigs, whereas optimum technological pork quality, except for IMF, is achieved with medium weight pigs.

Digestible and metabolizable energy of crude glycerol for growing pigs

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The apparent DE and ME values of crude glycerol for growing pigs were determined in 5 experiments using crude glycerol (86.95% glycerol) from a biodiesel production facility, which used soybean oil as the initial feedstock. It was concluded that among all experiments, the crude glycerol examined in this study was shown to have a Digestible Energy of of 3,344 ± 8 kcal/kg and an Metabolized Energy of 3,207 ± 10 kcal/kg, thereby providing a highly available energy source for growing pigs.

Cross Compliance and Competitiveness of the European Beef and Pig Sector

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Cross compliance, introduced with the 2003 CAP reform, links direct payments to
farmers to their respect of regulations in the field of environmental protection, public, animal
and plant health and animal welfare. This paper focuses on the additional costs cross compliance may generate in
the beef and pig sector. For both products the most relevant standards were identified and an
assessment was made of the level of compliance and the cost of compliance. The subsequent
analysis then focused, first, on the additional cost of compliance if compliance levels were to
become universal, and second, on the impact this would have on trade flows of the EU with
the US and other competitors on the world market. The second section of this paper is dedicated to the impact of the Nitrate Directive and Regulations that are currently applicable to pigs farms. It was found that the extent to which the Nitrate Directive may create extra costs to the pig sector
depends on the pig density per hectare in each Member State, on the percentage of pigs
present in Nitrate Vulnerable Zones and on the degree of compliance of pig farmers to the
Nitrate Directive. These three data differ very much from country to country and explain
primarily the very different sector cost increases for the pig sectors of EU Member States. The
overall EU cost increase to be attributed to the pig sector due to attain full compliance with
the Nitrate Directive has been estimated at 0.55%.
From a comparison with the impact of the Clean Water Act in the US it turns out that
this act raises the cost for the American pig sector with 1.08%, an almost double cost effect
compared to the impact of the Nitrate Directive in the EU. The reason for this substantial rise
of costs has to be attributed to the large percentage of pig affected by this measure and its
rather recent application to US pig farms, which still implies a rather low degree of
compliance.
A calculation of the animal welfare regulations for pig farmers in the EU shows, that
the cost increase is very limited. The reasons for this minor cost impact are a high degree of
compliance with the standards and the limited rise of costs for farmers which still have to
adapt their farm to the new legislation.

Relational Contracting and Allocation of Decision Rights in the Agri- Food Industry: Producer Contracts and Food Safety

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We applied a formal theoretical model of adaptation to two empirical settings within the agrifood
industry: specialized pig production and food safety in Denmark. The objective is to allocate
decision rights ex ante so that actual decisions taken ex post will optimize the profit accruing
to the two parties in a contractual or integrative relation.
Two applications have been presented in this paper: First an actual partnership between two
pork producers in Denmark. Based on detailed budgets we develop detailed schedules for the
“reneging temptations” of the two partners- These are the temptations to renege on the contract
during the evolution of the partnership. Using a model developed by Baker, Gibbons and Murphy
(2006) we calculate equilibria using the Folk theorem in order to determine which is the
best allocation of decision rights. We find that the existing allocation of decision rights in the
case we examine is efficient in the sense that it results into a second best allocation.
Using the same modelling approach we presented a second application on salmonella control
related to end-feeding, that is, salmonella contamination of pork due to filled bellies of pigs fed
for the last 12 hours before delivery. Based on appropriate assumptions, the parties should give
the decision right (whether to end-feed or not) to the slaughterhouse in order to reach the firstbest
solution which, given the assumptions, is feasible

Effects of season and distance moved during loading on transport losses of market-weight pigs in two commercially available types of trailer

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This study evaluated effects of trailer design and season on physical indicators of stress during loading and unloading and transport losses (dead and nonambulatory pigs) in market-weight pigs (BW = 129.6 ¡À 0.40 kg). A total of 109 trailer loads of pigs (n = 17,256 pigs) from 1 farm were used in a randomized complete block design with a 2 ¡Á 4 factorial arrangement of treatments: 1) trailer design (pot-belly vs. straight-deck) and 2) season (spring vs. summer vs.
fall vs. winter). A subset of loads (n = 42) was used to examine effect of distance pigs were moved during loading [short ( indicators of stress and transport losses. This study was conducted on 7 d per season at 1 farm with 4 loads (2 on pot-belly and 2 on straight-deck trailers) being transported each day to 1 commercial packing plant. Pigs from different farm groups were mixed on the trailer and provided with 0.45 m2/pig floor space during an approximately 4-h journey to the plant. The percentage of pigs exhibiting open-mouth breathing, skin discoloration, and muscle tremors was recorded during loading and unloading. Additionally, dead pigs on arrival at the plant and nonambulatory pigs at the farm
and at the plant were recorded. Effects of trailer design on open-mouth breathing and skin discoloration during unloading were dependent on season (trailer design ¡Á season interaction; P < 0.05). Pigs unloaded from
pot-belly trailers had a greater (P < 0.05) incidence of open-mouth breathing in the spring and summer and a
greater (P < 0.05) incidence of skin discoloration in the spring, summer, and winter than pigs unloaded from straight-deck trailers. The incidence of total nonambulatory pigs at the plant was greater (P < 0.05) in the winter than in the spring and summer. The long compared with short distance moved treatment resulted in a greater (P ¡Ü 0.001) incidence of open-mouth breathing and skin discoloration during loading and tended (P = 0.06) to increase the incidence of nonambulatory pigs at the farm. However, there was no effect of trailer design, season, or loading distance on total losses at the plant. In summary, physical indicators of stress (open-mouth breathing and skin discoloration) were increased with the long distance moved during loading treatment and were greater during unloading for
pot-belly than straight-deck trailers; however, trailer design, season, and loading distance had minimal effects on total transport losses.

For more information the full article can be found at http://jas.fass.org/

The effect of feeder type and change of feeder type on growing and finishing pig performance and behaviour

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Reduction in feed intake at weaning has been reported to result in a post-weaning ‘growth check’ (Pluske et al., 1997). This reduction in intake and growth rate is likely to be caused by a number of factors including the stress of being transported and mixed (Ekkel et al., 1995; Bilkei et al., 1997; Mardarowicz, 1985) and abrupt changes in both the diet and environment, for example, feed being offered from unfamiliar feeders (Pluske and Williams, 1996). A similar growth check is likely to occur when pigs are transferred to finishing accommodation. Despite the evidence to indicate that ‘wean to finish’ accommodation would be advantageous in terms of production performance (Ekkel et al., 1995; Bilkei et al., 1997; Mardarowicz, 1985), there are few units where pigs could be housed in the same accommodation from weaning to finish. Consequently producers aim to minimize the extent of change of diet and environment, thereby reducing the stress of transportation and re-housing and ultimately the ‘growth check’. The aim of this study was to compare the performance and behaviour of pigs offered feed in the same type of feeder from weaning to finish with those offered feed from two different types of feeder. A total of 640 pigs in 32 pens of 20 pigs per pen were used to investigate the effects of two feeder types and changing or not changing the feeder type at 10 weeks of age on growth performance and behaviour in the periods from 4 to 10, 10 to finish (22) and from 4 to finish (22) weeks of age, respectively. The two feeder types tested were a ‘wet and dry’ single-space (S) feeder and a ‘dry’ multi-space feeder (M). In the period 4–10 weeks of age feeder type had no significant effect on growth performance though pigs on the ‘dry’ multi-space feeder tended to exhibit significantly better feed efficiency from 4 to 7 weeks of age. In the first week after changing accommodation the growth rate of pigs on all treatments was depressed (compared to the last 3 weeks of the grower period) and was reduced a further 60 g/day when the feeder type was changed. However, the “feeder” effect was transitory and had no effect on overall finisher performance except for pigs changed from a ‘dry’ multi-space feeder to ‘wet and dry’ single-spaced feeder. These animals had significantly faster growth rate over the finisher phase.

For more information the full article can be found at http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/anifee/issues

Synthetic lying mats may improve lying comfort of gestating sows

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A prototype lying mat as an alternative to straw bedding for improving sow lying comfort was evaluated
using a dynamic group of 47 gestating sows housed in a pen with 5 communal lying areas. Mats were
installed in 3 lying areas while the concrete floors of the remaining lying areas remained uncovered (period
1). After 5 weeks the position of the lying mats was rotated (period 2). It was concluded that under conditions of this experiment covering concrete floors with synthetic mats appeared to improve sow lying comfort. It is questionable whether this finding can be generalised to other (climatic) conditions.

For more information the full article can be found at http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/applan/issues

Factors influencing farmers’ responses to welfare legislation: A case study of gestation sow housing in Flanders (Belgium)

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In this study a survey was conducted and revealed that Belgian pig production is likely to undergo drastic changes during the few years remaining before the 2013 deadline and the socio-economic consequences for the Belgian pork industry may be considerable. Although this survey was specific for the Belgian situation, many findings (such as concerning user satisfaction and factors which affect decision making) are clearly relevant to livestock scientists as well as pig farmers from other countries using or planning to convert to a group housing system for their gestating sows.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/livsci

Effects of oral administration of sodium citrate or acetate to pigs on blood parameters, postmortem glycolysis, muscle pH decline, and quality attributes of pork

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This study determines the effect of oral administration of sodium citrate (CIT) or acetate (ACE) to pigs on blood parameters, postmortem glycolysis, pH decline, and quality attributes of pork. It was found that no significant inhibition of the PFK enzyme by orally administered CIT or ACE; however, the PFK glycolytic metabolite data analysis indicated that PFK was a main regulatory enzyme in postmortem muscle.

Effect of soluble and insoluble dietary fiber on embryo survival and sow performance

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Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of soluble (SF) and insoluble (ISF) dietary fiber during gestation on embryo survival and sow performance. It was concluded that the inclusion of SF and ISF in gestation diets did not affect litter size. Sows fed the HS+HIS diet had a greater ADFI and lost less birthweight during lactation than sows fed C. Feeding gestating sows increase levels of both SF and ISF from day 2 after breeding to day 109 of gestation, did not increase litter size.