The Implications of Changing Age and Weight at Slaughter of Heavy Pigs on Carcass and Green Ham Quality Traits
Isaac Hyeladi Malgwi,
Luigi Gallo,
Veronika Halas,
Valentina Bonfatti,
Giuseppe Carcò,
Celio Paolo Sasso,
Paolo Carnier,
Stefano Schiavon
Affiliations
Isaac Hyeladi Malgwi
Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, Viale dell’ Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy
Luigi Gallo
Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, Viale dell’ Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy
Veronika Halas
Department of Farm Animal Nutrition, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE), Kaposvár Campus, Guba Sándor Utca 40, H-7400 Kaposvár, Hungary
Valentina Bonfatti
Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science (BCA), University of Padova, Agripolis, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy
Giuseppe Carcò
Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, Viale dell’ Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy
Celio Paolo Sasso
Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, Viale dell’ Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy
Paolo Carnier
Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science (BCA), University of Padova, Agripolis, Viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy
Stefano Schiavon
Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, Viale dell’ Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy
Italian dry-cured ham production requires pigs to be slaughtered at 160 ± 16 kg at 9 months of age (control, C). The study explored three alternatives, based on different feeding conditions: (1) allowing pigs to express their growth potential by letting them reach 160 ± 16 kg slaughter weight (SW) at younger slaughter age (SA) (younger Age, YA); (2) allowing pigs to express their growth potential by maximizing their SW at 9 months SA (greater weight, GW); (3) increasing the SA required to reach 160 ± 16 kg SW (older age, OA). Pigs (336 C21 Goland, 95 kg initial body weight) were slaughtered on average at 257, 230, 257, and 273 d SA and 172.7, 172.3, 192.9, and 169.3 SW kg for the four treatments, respectively. C pigs had an average daily gain (ADG) of 715 g/d and feed efficiency (FE) of 0.265 (gain to feed). Compared to C, YA pigs had higher ADG (+32%), FE (+7.5%), and better ham adiposity; GW pigs had higher carcass weight (+12%), ADG (+25%), trimmed ham weight (+10.9%), and better ham adiposity. OA treatment affected ADG (−16.4%), FE (−16.6%), and trimmed ham weight (−3.6%). YA and GW could be promising alternatives to C as they improved FE and ham quality traits.
