Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T03:35:01.335Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effect of feed restriction prior to slaughter on performance and meat quality of pigs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

V.E. Beattie ,
R.N. Weatherup  and
B W Moss
V.E. Beattie
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Hillsborough, Co Down BT26 6DR, Northern Ireland
R.N. Weatherup
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Hillsborough, Co Down BT26 6DR, Northern Ireland
B W Moss
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland, Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5PX, Northern Ireland
Get access

Extract

Feed restriction prior to slaughter may reduce live and carcass weight gain (Murray and Jones, 1994) and meat quality (Warriss, 1982) but can reduce carcass contamination and the amount of waste to be disposed of at the slaughter house (Eikelenbloom et al., 1991). Most literature studies are however based on a single feed restriction while group housed pigs may be slaughtered over a period of time and can therefore be subjected to several periods of feed restriction. This study was conducted to examine the effects of feed restriction prior to slaughter on the production performance and meat quality of group housed finishing pigs.

There were three experimental treatments (1) control - ad libitum access up to point of transport, feeders closed off for 12 hours (Treatment 2) and feeders closed off for 20 hours (Treatment 3) prior to transport to the slaughter house. All pigs had unrestricted access to water. Four hundred and eighty six, 35 kg crossbred pigs, housed in groups of 18, were randomly allocated to 9 replicates of the three treatments. Pigs were slaughtered when a target live weight of 102 kg was reached. Production performance was recorded on a weekly basis when the first pig in any treatment approached 95 kg live weight until all pigs were slaughtered.

Type
Programme
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 1999 , 1999 , pp. 11
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Eikelenbloom, G., Bolink, A.H. and Sybesma, W. (1991). Effects of feed withdrawal before delivery on pork quality and carcass yield. Meat Science, 29, 25–30.Google Scholar
Murray, A.C. and Jones, S.D.M. (1994). The effect of mixing, feed restriction and genotype with respect to stress susceptibility on pork carcass and meat quality. Canadian Journal of Animal Science, 74, 587–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warriss, P.D. (1982). Loss of carcass weight, liver weight and liver glycogen, and the effects on muscle glycogen and ultimate pH in pigs fasted preslaughter. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 33, 840–846.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warriss, P.D. and Brown, S.N. (1983). The influence of preslaughter fasting on carcass and liver yield in pigs. Livestock Production Science, 10, 273–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar