Comparison of Meat Quality and Nutritive Value of Purebred and Crossbred Pigs
ZHANG Jie1, SU Jun1,*, CHAI Jie2, LOU Pengbo2
1. Department of Animal Science, Southwest University (Rongchang), Chongqing 402460, China;
2. College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
Abstract：The objective of this study was to understand how hybridization affects the meat quality, hormone, fatty acid, mineral elements content and meat quality-related gene expression levels of porcine longissimus dorsi muscles. Landrace, Yorkshire and Landrace × Yorkshire pigs (six animals from each breed) aged 180 days under the same raising conditions were used in this study. The results showed that Landrace × Yorkshire pigs had significantly (P < 0.05) higher drip loss, IMF content, insulin level, mineral elements content and meat quality-related gene (RYR1, CAST, IGF2, PPKAG3 and MC4R) expression levels and significantly (P < 0.05) lower shear force, moisture and polyunsaturated fatty acid contents in longissimus dorsi than Landrace and Yorkshire pigs, indicating that hybridization has a significant impact on meat quality traits and nutrient contents of a pig, but it is difficult to judge their combined effect is positive or negative. Therefore further research is needed.
