title: Effects of Morphological Characteristics of Muscle Fibers on Porcine Growth Performance and Pork Quality.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of morphological characteristics of porcine muscle fibers on growth performance, muscle fiber characteristics, and pork quality taken from thelongissimus dorsimuscle. A total of 239 crossbred pigs (164 castrated males and 75 females) were used in this study. Experimental pigs were categorized by the total number of muscle fiber (TNF: High and Low) and cross sectional area of muscle fiber (CSAF: Large, Middle, and Small). Their combinations were classified into six groups (High-Large, HL; High-Middle, HM; High-Small, HS; Low-Large, LL; Low-Middle, LM; Low-Small, LS). The TNF and CSAF were significantly (p<0.05) correlated with growth rate and carcass productivity, while the only of the type I number had no meaningful relationships excluding the correlation with loin area (p<0.001). The proportion of type I area was positively correlated with pH45 minwhile the proportion of type IIB area was negatively correlated with pH45 minand pH24 h(p<0.05). Drip loss and protein denaturation had strong relationships with the proportion of type IIB number or area. The HL group exhibited the greatest growth performance. In addition, the HL group had significantly greater values in protein solubility than the other groups. In conclusion, this study suggest that high TNF combined to large CSAF improve the ultimate lean meat productivity and assure normal meat quality simultaneously with increased both proportion of number and area of type I, type IIA muscle fibers and lowered proportion of number and area of type IIB.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Science and Food Management, College of Science & Industry Convergence, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Korea.
authors.forename: Sang Hoon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Jun-Mo
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Korea.
authors.forename: Youn Chul
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Science and Food Management, College of Science & Industry Convergence, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Korea.
authors.forename: Kwang Suk
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Ko
keywords: cross sectional area of muscle fiber; growth performance; muscle fiber morphology; pork quality; total number of muscle fiber