Evaluation of the effect of surgical and immunological castration of male pigs on boar taint compounds in oral fluid and fat tissue by LC-MS/MS method

Abstract

An effective way of preventing undesirable boar taint in pork meat caused by the presence of androstenone, skatole and indole is surgical castration of piglets. This, however, arouses growing social opposition. An alternative method of inhibiting the development of unpleasant odour is immune castration. The aim of the study was to compare the effectiveness of both methods of castration for the elimination of the compounds responsible and to assess the suitability of oral fluid for pre-slaughter predictive testing for boar taint.

Keywords

• boars
• oral fluid
• fat
• boar taint
• liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry