Carcass and meat quality traits of four different pig crosses.
The study compared properties of Finnish Landrace×Yorkshire crossbred sows mated with Finnish Landrace (FL), Norwegian Landrace (NL), Norwegian Duroc×Norwegian Landrace (NDL), or Swedish Hampshire (SH) boars. The focus was to study the cross-sectional area of loin, cross-sectional area and number of muscle fibres, loin colour and pH value as well as the ratio of water to protein in the loin. The four studied crosses were quite similar having only small differences in carcass and meat quality. The carcass lean content was the lowest in NDL. The loins of FL and NL were longer than the loins of NDL and of SH. The cross-sectional area of loin was the largest in SH. The loin of FL was lighter in colour and the loin of SH was redder than the loins of the other crosses studied. The protein content was lower and the ratio of water to protein higher in loin of SH than in the other crosses.
Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, PO Box 66, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland. marita.ruusunen@helsinki.fi
Marita
M
Ruusunen
Eero
E
Puolanne
Marja-Liisa
ML
Sevon-Aimonen
Kirsi
K
Partanen
Liisa
L
Voutila
Jarkko
J
Niemi
D000818:Animals; D001823:Body Composition; D003116:Color; D005260:Female; D006824:Hybridization, Genetic; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism*; D009210:Myofibrils / Q000737:chemistry; D010641:Phenotype; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D013552:Swine
D011506:Proteins