See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/262984971

Nutritional strategies affect carcass and pork quality but have no effect on
intramuscular fat content of pork

Article  in  Animal Production Science · April 2012

DOI: 10.1071/AN11138

CITATIONS READS

14 495

5 authors, including:

Darryl Nicholas D'Souza Bruce P Mullan

SunPork Group Department of Agriculture and Food
109 PUBLICATIONS   1,631 CITATIONS    192 PUBLICATIONS   4,876 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

David William Pethick John Pluske

Murdoch University University of Melbourne
383 PUBLICATIONS   10,300 CITATIONS    328 PUBLICATIONS   9,802 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Physiological (biometric), emotional, and sensory responses of consumers toward food products and packaging View project

GUTWEAN View project

All content following this page was uploaded by David William Pethick on 05 September 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

CSIRO PUBLISHING
Animal Production Science, 2012, 52, 276–282
http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/AN11138

Nutritional strategies affect carcass and pork quality

but have no effect on intramuscular fat content of pork

D. N. D’Souza A,B,E, B. P. Mullan A, D. W. Pethick C, J. R. Pluske C and F. R. Dunshea D

A
Pork Research and Development Division, Department of Agriculture and Food,
South Perth, WA 6151, Australia.
B
Australian Pork Limited, Deakin West, ACT 2600, Australia.
C
Division of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch,
WA 6150, Australia.
D
Department of Agriculture and Food Systems, Melbourne School of Land and Environment,
The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic. 3010, Australia.
E
Corresponding author. Email: darryl.dsouza@australianpork.com.au

Abstract. Fifty crossbred (Large White · Landrace · Duroc) female finisher pigs were used to determine the effect of
nutritional strategies on intramuscular fat content. The dietary treatments were (A) Control: commercial grower and
finisher diet, (Day 68–166), (B) –15% P : E and –vitamin A: a 15% reduced protein : energy grower diet with no supplemental
vitamin A (Day 68–110), followed by a commercial finisher diet (Day 111–166), (C) sugar: a grower diet supplemented
with 10% sugar (Day 68–110), followed by a commercial finisher diet (Day 111–166), (D) zinc: a grower diet supplemented
with 250 ppm zinc (Day 68–110), followed by a commercial finisher diet (Day 111–166), and (E) lecithin: a diet
supplemented with 3 g/kg lecithin in the grower and finisher diet (Day 68–166). The effects of lecithin supplementation
on compression characteristics of the M. semitendinosus were also studied. These data indicate that there were no significant
effects of dietary manipulations on intramuscular fat content. During the grower phase (Day 68–110) pigs offered the
low protein : energy and vitamin A-deficient diet had a poorer feed : gain compared with those offered diet containing
supplemental sugar. Dietary lecithin supplementation decreased (P < 0.05) hardness and chewiness values for the
M. semitendinosus compared with pigs offered the Control diet. Pigs offered the lecithin-supplemented diet also tended
(P = 0.090) to have lower cook loss compared with pigs offered the Control diet. Dietary zinc supplementation during
the grower phase improved (P < 0.05) the carcass dressing % compared with pigs offered the other diets. Dietary sugar or
zinc increased (P < 0.05) the amount of lean in the belly and may be a means to control the rapid rise in the ratio of fat to
lean in the belly during the finisher phase. These data indicate that dietary lecithin supplementation has the potential
to improve the tenderness of pork but that intramuscular fat is difficult to manipulate nutritionally from an already
moderate amount.

Additional keywords: compression characteristics, lecithin supplementation, sugar supplementation, zinc

supplementation.

Received 6 May 2011, accepted 4 January 2012, published online 29 February 2012

Introduction increased linearly when carcass weights increased from 200 to

Genetic selection for reduced fat and leaner pigs has reduced
intramuscular fat (IMF) levels, and the perception is that pork
is now tougher, less moist and has reduced flavour (Channon
et al. 2001). It is conventionally accepted that IMF deposition
increases with age. However, D’Souza et al. (2004) reported
that IMF levels in the finisher phase remained constant in female
pigs (16–25 weeks of age), and were poorly correlated with
slaughter age or carcass weight. This is consistent with studies
which similarly reported no effect of slaughter weight on IMF
(Ellis et al. 1996; Beattie et al. 1999). The deposition of IMF in
pigs is in stark contrast with that of cattle where IMF levels
400 kg (Duckett et al. 1993; Aoki et al. 2001). Based on these
data, dietary interventions to enhance IMF may need to be
applied earlier (i.e. grower phase) than the finisher phase.
There is evidence that feeding pigs a reduced protein : energy
ration during the grower phase increased IMF and improved
pork eating quality (Cisneros et al. 1996; D’Souza et al.
2003). Smith and Crouse (1984) also reported that adipocytes
associated with IMF depots have a high reliance on glucose
and/or lactate as a substrate in cattle and so a high glycaemic
index diet during the grower phase may increase IMF deposition.
D’Souza et al. (2003) also reported that feeding pigs a diet

Journal compilation  CSIRO 2012 www.publish.csiro.au/journals/an

Nutritional strategies and intramuscular fat Animal Production Science 277

deficient in vitamin A during the grower and finisher growth
phase increased the IMF content in lean pigs. High zinc levels
exert potent insulinmimetic effects and it has been proposed
that dietary zinc may be another means of increasing
adipogenesis and IMF in livestock (Kawachi 2006). Finally,
intramuscular connective tissue also plays an important role
in determining meat toughness and these effects may be
exacerbated at low IMF contents. The stability of the collagen
molecules increases with age and is closely related to the amount
of hydroxyproline in the collagen and the thickness of the fibres
(Fang et al. 1999). It is possible that pigs offered inhibitors
of proline hydroxylase, such as polyenylphosphatidylcholine
(PPC) found in soyabean lecithin may decrease the
development of intramuscular connective tissue and improve
meat tenderness and increase IMF content. Given that the
stability of collagen increases with age, it is likely that dietary
lecithin will need to be included in both the grower and finisher
phase. The aim of the experiment was to investigate the effect
of a combined reduced protein : energy and vitamin A-deficient
diet, a high sugar or a high zinc grower phase-supplemented
diet, and a lecithin grower-finisher supplemented on IMF in
M. longissimus thoracis. Furthermore, the effects of dietary
lecithin supplementation on meat compression characteristics,
indicative of collagen cross-linking, was also determined in
M. semitendinosus, which is a good indicator muscle (Wheeler
et al. 2000) given its high collagen content.
Materials and methods
Animal, feeding and experimental design
A total of 50 Large White · Landrace · Duroc crossbred
female pigs of similar age were used in the experiment. At
~14–16 days of age the pigs were transported to the
Department of Agriculture, WA, Research Unit, Medina, and
group housed in an environmentally controlled weaner room for
3 weeks, after which they were moved to a naturally ventilated
experimental grower/finisher shed. The pigs were stratified on
weight and randomly allocated to one of five dietary treatments
either in the grower phase (Day 68–110), finisher phase (Day
111–166) or the grower and finisher phase (Day 68–166)
(Table 1) and individually housed. The dietary treatments
were (A) Control: commercial grower and finisher diet (B)
–15%P : E and –vitamin A: a 15% reduced protein : energy
grower diet with no supplemental vitamin A, followed by a
commercial finisher diet, (C) sugar: a grower diet
supplemented with 10% sugar, followed by a commercial
finisher diet, (D) zinc: a grower diet supplemented with
250 ppm zinc, followed by a commercial finisher diet and (E)
lecithin: a diet supplemented with 3 g/kg lecithin in the grower
and finisher diet (Table 1). The dose of lecithin was based on
human studies (Lieber 1999) and supplier recommendations
for use of lecithin as an emulsifier. All diets were formulated
using the AUSPIG computer model (Black et al. 1986). The

Table 1. Ingredient composition (% as fed) of the grower and finisher diets offered to individually housed female pigs

Grower diet (Day 68–110) Finisher diet (Day 111–166)

Control 15% P : E Lecithin Sugar Zinc Control –15% P : E Lecithin Sugar Zinc
and –vitamin A 3 g/kg 10% 250 ppm and –vitamin A 3 g/kg 10% 250 ppm
Barley 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 67.1 67.1 67.1 67.1 67.1
Wheat 70.0 72.1 70.0 55.9 70.0 – – – – –
Lupins 6.26 5.00 6.26 10.0 6.26 25.0 25.0 25.0 25.0 25.0
Soyabean 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 – – – – –
Blood 2.50 1.65 2.50 2.50 2.50 – – – – –
Meat and bone meal 6.36 6.38 6.36 6.37 6.36 6.30 6.30 6.30 6.30 6.30
Fishmeal 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.53 2.00
Canola oil 1.27 1.40 1.27 1.10 1.27 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30
Lysine 0.189 0.104 0.189 0.148 0.189 0.027 0.027 0.027 0.027 0.027
Methionine 0.047 0.011 0.047 0.052 0.047 0.031 0.031 0.031 0.031 0.031
Threonine 0.056 – 0.056 0.052 0.056 – – – – –
Choline 0.040 0.040 0.040 0.040 0.040 0.040 0.040 0.040 0.040 0.040
Salt 0.200 0.200 0.200 0.200 0.200 0.100 0.100 0.100 0.100 0.100
Dicalcium phosphate – – – 0.166 – – – – – –
Limestone – – – – – 0.057 0.057 0.057 0.057 0.057
Mineral vitamin premix 0.070 0.070A 0.070 0.070 0.070 0.070 0.070 0.070 0.070 0.070
Lecithin – – 0.30B – – – – 0.30B – –
Zinc – – – – 0.025C – – – – –
Sugar – – – 10.0 – – – – – –
Estimated content: – – – – – – – – – –
Digestible energy (MJ/kg) 14.3 14.3 14.3 14.3 14.3 13.0 13.0 13.0 13.0 13.0
Protein% 18.7 17.7 18.7 18.5 18.7 18.2 18.2 18.2 18.2 18.2
Available lysine (g/MJ DE) 0.600 0.510 0.600 0.600 0.600 0.500 0.500 0.500 0.500 0.500
Total fat% 4.14 4.23 4.14 3.92 4.14 4.57 4.57 4.57 4.57 4.57
A
Vitamin A not added to the mineral vitamin premix.
B
Ultralec (Archer Daniels Midland Company, Decatur, IL, USA).
C
Zinc Bioplex (Alltech Inc., KY, USA).
278 Animal Production Science
protocol used in this experiment conformed to all Animal
Experimentation Ethics Committee (Activity No. 02SP143)
regulations concerning the health and care of experimental
animals. All pigs had ad libitum access to feed, and water via
nipple drinkers. Feed intake and refusals were recorded weekly
and average daily voluntary food intake, average daily gain and
feed : gain were calculated for all treatments throughout the
experiment.
The pigs were transported to a commercial abattoir and
slaughtered according to standard commercial procedures at
~23 weeks (166 days of age). The pigs were stunned using a
carbon dioxide dip-lift stunner set at 85% CO2 for 2 min
(Butina, Denmark). Exsanguination, scalding, de-hairing and
evisceration were performed according to standard commercial
procedures. Post-slaughter, the carcass weight and back fat
depth at the P2 site (65 mm off the midline over the last rib)
was determined on the hot carcass at 45 min post-slaughter.
Back fat depth at the P2 site was measured using the Hennessy
Grading Probe 4 (HGP 4).The carcasses (Aus-Meat Trim 13 –
head, flare fat, fore and hind trotters removed) were split
before entering the chiller (5 to 1C cycle, air speed 5 m/sec)
(AMLC 1989). Twenty-four hours post-slaughter, the right
half of the carcass (excluding head, trotters and flare fat) was
cut into shoulder, middle and leg primal cuts for carcass fat
tissue (lipids), lean muscle tissue (protein and water) and
bone mineral content estimation by the dual energy X-ray
absorptiometry method (Suster et al. 2003, 2004). Samples
(50 g) were also collected from the M. longissimus thoracis
(loin) from each carcass to determine IMF. Intramuscular
fat was chemically determined using the method of direct
soxhlet extraction of IMF by a solvent (hexane) and
expressed as a weight percentage of wet muscle tissue (AOAC
1990).
For the Control and lecithin-supplemented pigs, the
whole M. semitendinosus was collected to objectively
determine compression characteristics (Bouton and Harris
1972). Following cooking, samples were dried with paper
towel to remove excess moisture and weighed to determine
cooking loss. Following overnight chilling at 4C, each
sample was cut, parallel to the muscle fibres, into five
replicates of 1-cm2 cross-sectional area. Compression analysis
was undertaken on the cooked sample of pork. A 0.63-cm-
diameter plunger was driven 0.80 cm through the 1-cm-thick
pork sample using an Instron Universal Testing Machine
(Instron Model 4465, Norwood, MA, USA). The peak force
required and work done during plunger travel was measured.
The plunger was then withdrawn and returned to the same
damaged area to measure work done in repeating the first
action. These tests determined hardness (the peak force
attained during initial penetration), cohesiveness (the
proportion of work required for the second penetration to that
required for the first penetration) and chewiness (the
product of hardness and cohesiveness). The crosshead speed
was set at 50 mm/min and a 5-kN load cell was used to
measure force.
ANOVA was used to analyse the main effects of diet and
their effect on growth performance and carcass quality using
the GENSTAT program (version 11, release 11.1.0.1575). For
analyses of final liveweight and carcass weight initial
D. N. D’Souza et al.
liveweight was used as a covariate. For DXA determined
primal composition, carcass weight was used as a covariate.
Results
Appropriate blocking and randomisation ensured that there
was no differences in initial liveweight (25.7 kg, P = 0.99).
Pigs offered supplemental sugar during the grower period
tended (P = 0.074) to grow faster than those that were
restricted in protein : energy and vitamin A between 68 and
110 days of age with pigs offered the other diets intermediate
(Table 2). There were no differences between treatments in
daily gain between 111 and 166 days of age or over the entire
experiment. There were also no effects of dietary treatment on
feed intake over any stage of the study. Pigs offered the 15%
reduced protein : energy and vitamin A-restricted diet had an
inferior (P = 0.014) feed conversion ratio compared with pigs
offered the other dietary treatments during the grower growth
period (Day 68–110) and tended (P = 0.092) to have an inferior
feed conversion ratio compared with those pigs offered the
grower diet supplemented with sugar for the overall grower
and finisher periods (Day 68–166). There were no effects of
dietary treatment on liveweight or carcass weight. Dressing
percentage was significantly higher in the pigs offered the
grower diet supplemented with zinc compared with the pigs
consuming all other diets, while the dressing percentage of
pigs offered the high sugar diet was lower compared with
those offered the 15% reduced protein : energy and vitamin
A-restricted grower diet (Table 3). There were no significant
differences in P2 backfat depth or IMF between the dietary
treatments (Table 3).
The dietary treatments effects on the composition of
the primals are presented in Table 3. For the shoulder primal,
pigs offered the zinc diet had the lowest (P = 0.012) primal
weight, whereas pigs offered the sugar diet had the highest
(P = 0.11) fat content. For the belly primal, pigs offered the
sugar diet had the highest (P = 0.003) primal weight, whereas
pigs offered the sugar or zinc diet had the highest (P = 0.002)
lean content. For the ham primal, pigs offered the sugar diet
had the highest primal weight. Pigs offered the sugar-
supplemented diet had higher (P = 0.035; P = 0.002) ash
content weight for the shoulder and belly primal, respectively,
whereas pigs offered the zinc-supplemented diet had the lower
(P = 0.032; P = 0.027) ash content for the loin and ham
primals, respectively. Lecithin supplementation decreased
M. semitendinosus hardness (P = 0.011) and chewiness
(P = 0.021) but had no effect on cohesiveness (P = 0.57)
(Table 4). Pigs offered the lecithin-supplemented diet also
tended to have a lower cooking loss (P = 0.090) compared
with pigs offered the Control diet.
Discussion
The important new observation from the present study was
that dietary lecithin supplementation decreased the chewiness
and hardness values of M. semitendinosus and thus has the
potential to improve tenderness and texture. Intramuscular
connective tissue, comprising cross-linked collagen molecules,
impacts on the degree of muscle fibre separation during
Nutritional strategies and intramuscular fat Animal Production Science 279

Table 2. The effect of dietary treatments on the growth performance and carcass characteristics of individually housed female pigs
Values in same line with different letters are significantly different (P < 0.05)

Diet
Control –15% P : E Lecithin Sugar Zinc s.e.d. P-value
and –vitamin A 3 g/kg 10% 250 ppm
Treatment period Day 68–166 Day 68–110 Day 68–166 Day 68–110 Day 68–110
Daily gain (kg)
Day 68–110 0.811abc 0.751a 0.802ab 0.886c 0.833bc 0.041 0.047
Day 111–166 0.841 0.822 0.817 0.875 0.828 0.056 0.84
Day 68–166 0.828 0.792 0.811 0.882 0.831 0.041 0.28
Feed intake (kg/day)
Day 68–110 1.89 1.99 1.91 2.01 2.04 0.084 0.48
Day 111–166 2.82 2.82 2.79 2.86 2.98 0.135 0.68
Day 68–159 2.42 2.47 2.41 2.48 2.58 0.087 0.42
Feed : gain
Day 68–110 2.34a 2.68b 2.43a 2.27a 2.45ab 0.117 0.014
Day 111–166 3.38 3.51 3.47 3.28 3.63 0.193 0.43
Day 68–166 2.93abc 3.16b 3.03abc 2.82c 3.11ab 0.132 0.092
Liveweight (kg)A 107.1 103.4 105.4 112.4 106.6 4.16 0.29
Carcass weight (kg)A 71.9 69.8 72.4 73.3 75.3 7.87 0.71
Carcass dressing % 67.3ab 67.7b 67.2ab 65.8a 69.4c 0.81 0.002
P2 backfat (mm) 14.9 11.9 14.4 13.1 15.6 1.68 0.18
Intramuscular fat (%)B 2.4 2.8 2.7 2.5 2.8 1.09 0.92
A
Analysed using initial liveweight as a covariate.
B
M. longissimus thoracis.

Table 3. The effect of phase dietary treatments on carcass composition of individually housed female pigs
Half carcass composition determined using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry as described in the text and analysed using carcass weight as a covariate.
Values in same line with different letters are significantly different (P < 0.05)

Diet
Control –15% P : E Lecithin Sugar Zinc s.e.d. P-value
and –vitamin A 3 g/kg 10% 250 ppm
Treatment period Day 68–166 Day 68–110 Day 68–166 Day 68–110 Day 68–110
n 10 10 9 9 8
Shoulder:
Total (kg) 9.75ab 9.72ab 9.47ac 10.06b 9.26c 0.220 0.012
Lean (kg) 6.53 6.68 6.40 6.68 6.39 0.186 0.400
Fat (kg) 1.21a 1.04a 1.13a 1.34b 0.93ac 0.112 0.011
Ash (kg) 2.02a 2.00a 1.94a 2.04b 1.93a 0.040 0.035
Belly:
Total (kg) 5.15a 4.97a 5.08a 5.65b 5.18a 0.169 0.003
Lean (kg) 3.37a 3.36a 3.33a 3.77b 3.65b 0.143 0.009
Fat (kg) 1.28 1.12 1.24 1.33 1.02 0.172 0.372
Ash (kg) 0.51a 0.50a 0.50a 0.54b 0.51a 0.011 0.002
Loin:
Total (kg) 7.09 6.87 7.01 6.96 6.58 0.198 0.133
Lean (kg) 4.25 4.31 4.25 4.18 4.32 0.185 0.940
Fat (kg) 1.48 1.28 1.47 1.50 1.03 0.196 0.117
Ash (kg) 1.36a 1.28a 1.30a 1.28a 1.23b 0.040 0.032
Ham:
Total (kg) 11.3a 11.4a 11.5ab 11.9b 10.7a 0.299 0.005
Lean (kg) 7.82 8.22 8.06 8.37 7.78 0.235 0.073
Fat (kg) 1.56 1.36 1.59 1.62 1.13 0.203 0.120
Ash (kg) 1.91a 1.92a 1.90a 1.94a 1.77b 0.050 0.027

chewing and the tenderness of meat (Lawrie 1998; Purslow tenderness, assessed mechanically and by consumer panels
2005). If the degree of collagen cross-linking is low then (Tornberg 2005). It is possible that the effect of dietary
the muscle fibres come apart readily, thereby affecting the lecithin supplementation on the chewiness and hardness of
280 Animal Production Science
Table 4. The effect of dietary lecithin supplementation between
Day 68 and 166 on the compression characteristics and cook loss of
the M. semitendinosus of female pigs
Analyses only performed on pork from Control and lecithin-supplemented
pigs as hypothesis related only to effects of lecithin. Values in same line
with different letters are significantly different (P < 0.05)
Diet
Control Lecithin (3 g/kg) s.e.d. P-value
Hardness (N) 3.2a 2.8b 0.16 0.011
Chewiness 1.3a 1.1b 0.08 0.021
Cohesiveness 0.39 0.38 0.007 0.570
% Cook loss 31.4 28.7 1.57 0.090
pork is mediated by PPC, which decreases the cross-linking of
collagen fibrils.
While there are no data on the effect of PPC on skeletal muscle
collagen, there is some compelling evidence for the effects of
PPC on collagen cross-linking and turnover in models of
alcohol-induced hepatic cirrhosis. For example, PPC inhibits
prolyl-4-hydroxylase resulting in reduced collagen fibril
cross-linking in the alcohol-induced damaged liver of baboons
(Lieber 1997, 1999). PPC has also been reported to promote the
action of collagenase and increase the breakdown of hepatic
collagen (Li et al. 1992). It has been proposed that this is
mediated by dilinoleoylphosphatidylcholine, the active
component of PPC found in lecithin extracts and which has
been shown to have an anti-fibrogenic effect in the liver of
alcoholics (Li et al. 1992) through stimulating the enzyme
collagenase, which is required for collagen degradation in the
process of turnover. Dilinoleoylphosphatidylcholine also has
been shown to decrease collagen synthesis (Cao et al. 2002a,
2002b) in rat hepatic stellate cells. If dietary lecithin has similar
actions in skeletal muscle collagen, the anticipated result would
be a decrease in chewiness and hardness, as observed in the
present study.
The sensory characteristics of hardness, cohesiveness and
chewiness values are defined as the force required to bite
completely through the meat, the degree to which meat returns
to original shape and time required to masticate the meat into a
state ready for swallowing, respectively (Hansen et al. 2004).
Mechanical correlates of these characteristics can be obtained
from the compression characteristics of cooked meat (Bouton
and Harris 1972) although they are not often reported for pork.
The values for M. semitendinosus in the present study are lower
in comparison to values reported in other studies (Channon
et al. 2001). The range of values reported by Channon et al.
(2001) for hardness, chewiness and cohesiveness of the
M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum were 5.1–6.2, 2.1–2.6
and 0.40–0.44, respectively. The differences between the
studies is most probably due to the difference in muscle
characteristics such as muscle bundle size and the size of the
perimysium surrounding the muscle bundles for
M. semitendinosus and M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum.
The M. semitendinosus has smaller muscle bundles and has a
thinner perimysium surrounding the muscle bundles compared
with M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum (Lawrie 1998).
Nevertheless, dietary lecithin supplementation was able to
D. N. D’Souza et al.
reduce the compression characteristics of pork in the present
study despite the low initial values.
These data also indicate that pork from pigs offered the
Control diet had higher cook loss compared with pork from
pigs offered the lecithin-supplemented diet. Bendall (1946)
first reported that cooking shortened the collagen fibrils and
this ‘shortening’ of the collagen fibrils during cooking could
result in excess water loss from the extracellular space
between the muscle fibres (see Tornberg 2005 for review). It
has been shown that the degree of water loss in cooked meat is
directly proportional to the amount of collagen and degree of
collagen cross-linking (Okeudo and Moss 2005). Hence it is
possible that lower cook loss % in pork from the lecithin-
supplemented pigs compared with pork from pigs offered
the Control diet could be attributed to the reduced ‘degree’
of shortening caused by reduced cross linking of collagen
fibrils.
Despite the proposed effects of dietary lecithin on collagen
synthesis and cross-linking in pork, there was no effect on
IMF. Similarly, none of the other dietary treatments had any
effect on IMF. Previously, protein deficient diets offered during
the finisher phase (Kerr et al. 1995; Witte et al. 2000) or both
the grower and finisher phase (Cisneros et al. 1996) increased
IMF. D’Souza et al. (2003) reported that both feeding a 15%
reduced protein : energy and vitamin A-restricted diets during
the grower phase only increased IMF at the end of the finisher
phase. In the present experiment, the combination of these
dietary manipulations had no effect on IMF. It is possible that
the lack of effect in the present experiment is related to the
amount of IMF in the Control animals. D’Souza et al. (2003)
reported that the pork from the Control pigs had 1.3% IMF
compared with 2.4% in the present study. Channon et al.
(2001) reported that the IMF content in Australian pork was as
low as 1% at that time and there was no evidence that this has
increased (D’Souza et al. 2008). Therefore, there is still a
need to investigate dietary strategies to increase IMF in
contemporary pigs.
While there were no profound effects of any of the dietary
treatments on growth performance, there were some subtle but
interesting findings. The decrease in average daily gain and an
increase in the pigs offered the 15% reduced protein : energy
and vitamin A-restricted diets during the grower phase was as
expected (de Greef et al. 1992; Chiba 1995; Critser et al. 1995;
Suster et al. 2006). While there may be a compensatory response
in growth during realimentation (Campbell and Biden 1978;
Collins et al. 2007), this did not occur in the present
experiment. Indeed, the variability in the compensatory
response is the reason this management tool to reduce feed
costs is not implemented on farm (Collins et al. 2007).
Interestingly, the pigs offered supplemental sugar during the
grower phase had the best growth performance during this
phase although they had the lowest dressing rate at slaughter.
Brooks (1972) found that pigs offered a diet containing sugar
as the source of carbohydrate grew faster than those offered a
corn-based diet. Sabin et al. (2011) also reported that pigs
offered a diet containing 25% sugar had a greater growth rate
compared with pigs offered a conventional wheat-based
diet. Therefore, the addition of small amounts of sugar in
grower diets may improve growth performance.
Nutritional strategies and intramuscular fat
Dietary sugar or zinc supplementation during the grower
phase also appeared to affect several the carcass primal
composition parameters. Pigs offered the sugar-supplemented
diet increased the shoulder, belly and ham primal weight.
However, the effect of dietary sugar or zinc supplementation
on lean and fat content was varied and is difficult to explain
and needs to be verified. These data are in contrast to Hernández
et al. (2009) who reported no effect of zinc on carcass quality
traits. The effects of sugar and zinc supplementation on primal
especially the belly primal is an important finding from a
commercial point of view. In many Asian markets, the belly is
the most valuable primal, so these improvements in the belly
primal may support the use of dietary zinc or sugar
supplementation in pigs from Australian supply chains with a
focus on the Asian export markets. This is important when it is
realised that the ratio of fat to lean in the belly increases at a
greater rate than the rest of the carcass over the finisher phase
(D’Souza et al. 2004).
The results from this experiment indicate that dietary
lecithin supplementation reduced the chewiness and hardness
of pork, and has the potential to improve the tenderness of
pork. At this stage, the mode of action is unknown and the
effect of lecithin supplementation in pig diets and its
subsequent effect on collagen cross-linking, shear force and
sensory pork quality needs to be further investigated. Dietary
sugar and zinc increased the amount of lean in the belly and
may be a means to control the rapid rise in the ratio of fat to
lean in the belly during the finisher phase, however, this needs
to be verified before any industry recommendations are
developed.
References
AMLC (1989) ‘The Aus-Meat standard carcase definition.’ (Australian Meat
and Livestock Corporation: Sydney)
AOAC (1990) ‘Official methods of analysis.’ 15th edn. (Association of
Official Analytical Chemists: Arlington, VA)
Aoki Y, Nakanishi N, Yamada T, Harashima N, Yamazaki T (2001)
Subsequent performance and carcass characteristics of Japanese
Black · Holstein crossbred steers reared on pasture from weaning at
three months of age. Bulletin of the National Grassland Research Institute
60, 40–55.
Beattie VE, Weatherup RN, Moss BW, Walker N (1999) The effect of
increasing carcass weight of finishing boars and gilts on joint
composition and meat quality. Meat Science 52, 205–211. doi:10.1016/
S0309-1740(98)00169-7
Bendall JR (1946) The effect of cooking on the creatine-creatinine,
phosphorus, nitrogen and PH values of raw lean beef. Journal of
the Society of Chemical Industry 65, 226–230. doi:10.1002/jctb.
5000650803
Black JL, Campbell RG, Williams IH, James KJ, Davies GT (1986)
Simulation of energy and amino acid utilisation in the pig. Research &
Development in Agriculture 3, 121–145.
Bouton PE, Harris PV (1972) A comparison of some objective methods
used to assess meat tenderness. Journal of Food Science 37, 218–221.
doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.1972.tb05820.x
Brooks CC (1972) Molasses, sugar (sucrose), corn, tallow, soybean oil and
mixed fats as sources of energy for growing swine. Journal of Animal
Science 34(2), 217–224.
Animal Production Science 281
Campbell RG, Biden RS (1978) The effect of protein nutrition between 5.5
and 20 kg live weight on the subsequent performance and carcass
quality of pigs. Animal Production 27, 223–228. doi:10.1017/S000335
6100036060
Cao Q, Mak KM, Lieber CS (2002a) Dilinoleoylphosphatidylcholine
prevents transforming growth factor-beta 1-mediated collagen
accumulation in cultured rat hepatic stellate cells. The Journal of
Laboratory and Clinical Medicine 139, 202–210. doi:10.1067/mlc.
2002.121853
Cao Q, Mak KM, Lieber CS (2002b) DLPC decreases TGF-beta 1-induced
collagen mRNA by inhibiting p38 MAPK in hepatic stellate cells.
American Journal of Physiology. Gastrointestinal and Liver
Physiology 283, G1051–G1061.
Channon HA, Reynolds J, Baud S (2001) Identifying pathways to ensure
acceptable eating quality of pork. Final Report, Australian Pork Limited,
Canberra.
Chiba LI (1995) Effects of nutritional history on the subsequent and
overall growth-performance and carcass traits of pigs. Livestock
Production Science 41, 151–161. doi:10.1016/0301-6226(94)000
50-H
Cisneros F, Ellis M, Baker DH, Easter RA, McKeith FK (1996) The influence
of time of feeding of amino-acid deficient diets on the intramuscular
fat content of pork. Animal Science (Penicuik, Scotland) 63, 517–522.
doi:10.1017/S1357729800015411
Collins CL, Henman DJ, Dunshea FR (2007) Reduced protein intake
during the weaner period has variable effects on subsequent growth
and carcass composition of pigs. Australian Journal of Experimental
Agriculture 47, 1333–1340. doi:10.1071/EA06059
Critser DJ, Miller PS, Lewis AJ (1995) The effects of dietary-protein
concentration on compensatory growth in barrows and gilts. Journal of
Animal Science 73, 3376–3383.
D’Souza DN, Pethick DW, Dunshea FR, Pluske JR, Mullan BP (2003)
Nutritional manipulation increases intramuscular fat levels in the
Longissimus muscle of female finisher pigs. Australian Journal of
Agricultural Research 54, 745–749. doi:10.1071/AR03009
D’Souza DN, Pethick DW, Dunshea FR, Suster D, Pluske JR, Mullan BP
(2004) The pattern of fat and lean muscle tissue deposition differs in
the different pork primal cuts of female pigs during the finisher growth
phase. Livestock Production Science 91, 1–8. doi:10.1016/j.livprodsci.
2004.04.005
D’Souza DN, Pethick DW, Dunshea FR, Pluske JR, Mullan BP (2008)
Reducing the protein content of the grower growth phase diet
increased intramuscular fat and improved the eating quality of the
Longissimus thoracis muscle of female pigs. Australian Journal of
Agricultural Research 48, 1105–1109.
de Greef KH, Kemp B, Verstegen MWA (1992) Performance and body-
composition of fattening pigs of 2 strains during protein-deficiency and
subsequent realimentation. Livestock Production Science 30, 141–153.
doi:10.1016/S0301-6226(05)80026-0
Duckett SK, Wagner DG, Yates LD, Dolezal HG, May SG (1993) Effects
of time on feed on beef nutrient composition. Journal of Animal Science
71, 2079–2088.
Ellis M, Webb AJ, Avery PJ, Brown I (1996) The influence of terminal
sire genotype, sex, slaughter weight, feeding regime and slaughter
house on growth performance and carcass and meat quality in pigs and
on organoleptic properties of fresh pork. Animal Science (Penicuik,
Scotland) 62, 521–530. doi:10.1017/S135772980001506X
Fang SH, Nishimura T, Takahashi K (1999) Relationship between
development of intramuscular connective tissue and toughness of pork
during growth of pigs. Journal of Animal Science 77, 120–130.
Hansen S, Hansen MD, Aaslyng MD, Byrne DV (2004) Sensory and
instrumental analysis of longitudinal and transverse textural variation
in pork longissimus dorsi. Meat Science 68, 611–629. doi:10.1016/
j.meatsci.2004.05.013
282 Animal Production Science
Hernández A, Pluske JR, D’Souza DN, Mullan BP (2009) Minimum
levels of inclusion of copper and zinc proteinate amino acid chelates
in growing and finishing pig diets. Animal Production Science 49,
340–349.
Kawachi H (2006) Micronutrients affecting adipogenesis in beef cattle.
Animal Science Journal 77, 463–471. doi:10.1111/j.1740-0929.2006.
00373.x
Kerr BJ, McKeith FK, Easter RA (1995) Effects on performance and
carcass characteristics of nursery to finisher pigs offered reduced crude
protein, amino acid-supplemented diets. Journal of Animal Science 73,
433–440.
Lawrie RA (1998) The structure and growth of muscle. In ‘Meat science’.
6th edn. (Ed. RA Lawrie) pp. 31–57. (Woodhead Publishing Limited:
Cambridge, UK)
Li JJ, Kim CI, Leo MA, Mak KM, Rojkind M, Lieber CS (1992)
Polyunsaturated lecithin prevents acetaldehyde-mediated hepatic
collagen accumulation by stimulating collagenase activity in cultured
lipocytes. Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.) 15, 373–381. doi:10.1002/hep.
1840150303
Lieber CS (1997) Pathogenesis and treatment of liver fibrosis in alcoholics:
1996 update. Digestive Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) 15, 42–66.
doi:10.1159/000171587
Lieber CS (1999) Prevention and treatment of liver fibrosis based on
pathogenesis. Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research 23,
944–949. doi:10.1111/j.1530-0277.1999.tb04209.x
Okeudo NJ, Moss BW (2005) Interrelationships amongst carcass and meat
quality characteristics of sheep. Meat Science 69, 1–8. doi:10.1016/
j.meatsci.2004.04.011
Purslow (2005) Intramuscular connective tissue and its role in meat quality.
Meat Science 70, 435–447. doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2004.06.028
Sabin MA, Yau SW, Russo VC, Clarke IJ, Dunshea FR, Chau J, Cox M,
Werther GA (2011) Dietary monounsaturated fat in early life regulates
IGFBP2 – implications for fat mass accretion and insulin sensitivity.
Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) in press. doi:10.1038/oby.2011.55
www.publish.csiro.au/journals/an
View publication stats
D. N. D’Souza et al.
Smith SB, Crouse JD (1984) Relative contributions of acetate, lactate
and glucose to lipogenesis in bovine intramuscular and subcutaneous
adipose-tissue. The Journal of Nutrition 114, 792–800.
Suster D, Leury BJ, Ostrowska E, Butler KL, Kerton DJ, Wark JD, Dunshea
FR (2003) Accuracy of dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), weight
and P2 back fat to predict whole body and carcass composition in pigs
within and across experiments. Livestock Production Science 84,
231–242. doi:10.1016/S0301-6226(03)00077-0
Suster D, Leury BJ, Hofmeyr CD, D’Souza DN, Dunshea FR (2004) The
accuracy of dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), weight, and P2
back fat to predict half-carcass and primal-cut composition in pigs within
and across research experiments. Australian Journal of Agricultural
Research 55, 973–982. doi:10.1071/AR04052
Suster D, Leury BJ, Kerton DJ, Dunshea FR (2006) Dual energy X-ray
absorptiometry predicts the effects of dietary protein on body composition
of pigs. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 46, 1439–1445.
doi:10.1071/EA04266
Tornberg E (2005) Effects of heat on meat proteins – implications on
structure and quality of meat products. Meat Science 70, 493–508.
doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2004.11.021
Wheeler TL, Shackelford SD, Koohmaraie M (2000) Variations
inproteolysis, sarcomere length, collagen content, and tenderness
among major pork muscles. Journal of Animal Science 78, 958–965.
Witte DP, Ellis M, McKeith FK, Wilson ER (2000) Effect of dietary lysine
level and environmental temperature during the finishing phase on the
intramuscular fat content of pork. Journal of Animal Science 78,
1272–1276.