Effects of Probiotics on Growth, Pork Quality and Serum Metabolites in Growing-finishing Pigs

A total of 72 growing-finishing pigs（56 days old） were used to investigate the effects of dietary probiotics on growing performance, pork quality and serum metabolites. Using single factorial experiment design, pigs were allotted to three groups（four pens/group and six pigs/pen）. Diet treatments were a corn-soybean meal（control group） and a corn-soybean meal with 1% probiotics（probiotics group） or 80 mg kg-1colistin sulfate（antibiotics group）. Pigs were slaughtered when pigs of the lightest averaged 90 kg（157 days of age）. There was no difference（p＆gt;0.05） in average daily gain or feed/gain, and the average daily feed intake of the antibiotics group was higher than that of the probiotics and the control groups（p＆lt;0.05）. Diet supplemented with probiotics reduced the drip loss and cooking loss of pork（p＆lt;0.05）. Dietary supplementation with probiotics significantly decreased the content of triglycerides, lowdensity lipoprotein and urea nitrogen in serum（p＆lt;0.05）, and increased the content of high-density lipoprotein in serum（p＆lt;0.05）. These results suggested improving effects of dietary probiotics on pork quality and serum metabolism in growing-finishing pigs.

Effects of Amino Acid or Fulibao Nutritional Additives on Slaughter Performance and Pork Quality of Pigs

[Objective]The paper was to study the effects of amino acid or Fulibao nutritional additives on slaughter performance and pork quality of pigs,and to provide a theoretical basis for improving pork quality in pig breeding industry.[Method]Six Landrace×Yorkshire castrated male piglets were divided into three groups.The piglets in the first group were fed with conventional diet and used as the control.The piglets in the experimental group I were fed with the conventional diet supplementing 0.1%Fulibao,and those in the experimental group II were fed with the conventional diet supplementing 0.36%compound amino acid preparation.The piglets were reared for 2 months before being slaughtered.[Result]The average daily gains of piglets in the experimental groups I and II were 17.7%and 6.73%higher than that in the control group,but there was no difference in feed/gain ratio among the three groups.The dressing percentages of piglets in the experimental groups I and II were 2.7%and 1.72%higher than that in the control group,and the lean meat percentages were 3.5%and 7.97%higher than that in the control group,respectively.The meat fat ratios in the two experimental groups were significantly higher than that in the control group.The intermuscular fat in the experimental group II was significantly higher than that in the control group.However,the contents of intermuscular fat and inosinic acid in the experimental group II were significantly lower than those in the control group.[Conclusion]Both additives can improve the average daily gain and main slaughter performance of pigs,but can not improve the inosine acid content,and the compound amino acid preparation can not improve the intermuscular fat content.

Effects of Creatine Monohydrate Diet on Muscle Metabolism,Quality,Sensory and Oxidative Stability of Pork in Female,Entire and Castrated Male Pigs

Forty-two (42) finishing pigs (entire males—EM, surgical castrates—SC and gilts—G, each of 14)—progeny of Landracesows and Hampshire × Pietrain boars, were included in the trial. They were randomly divided into control and experimental groups(each of seven). Control groups were fed the standard diet without any supplement. Experimental groups received standard diet withthe same composition as control but with supplement of creatine monohydrate (CMH, 2.0 g/kg of feed) for 30 d prior to slaughter.Sex of pigs had significant effect (p < 0.05) on drip loss and tenderness of pork when EM showed higher drip loss than SC and lowertenderness compared to other two groups (4.71% vs. 3.80%, resp. 3.23 vs. 3.91 and 4.12). Creatine level in plasma was increased byCMH supplementation in 46% in EM, 43% in SC and 41% in G. Similarly, concentration of phosphocreatine (PCr) in muscleincreased in 84% in EM, 88% in SC and 83% in G, respectively. CMH also improved meat colour L* (50.03 vs. 48.88) and reduceddrip loss in both EM (5.24% vs. 4.18%) and G (4.48% vs. 3.60%). Higher tenderness and better oxidative stability of pork after CMHsupplementation was found in all three sexes.

Silage Fermentation Technology and Its Effects on Growth Performance of Local Pigs

This paper first introduced the silage fermentation technology,including the selection of strains and activation expansion technology,the screening of high-quality fermentation raw materials,and the comparative experiment of fermentation process.It discussed feeding methods for sows and growing-finishing pigs at different breeding stages.In addition,it analyzed the effects of fermented silage on the growth performance of local pigs at various stages.Finally,it is concluded that silage fermentation can improve the water retention performance of pork,improve the quality of pork from local pigs,increase economic benefits,and achieve the purpose of saving costs and increasing efficiency.

A Review of Factors Influencing Intramuscular Fat Content in Porcine Meat

Intramuscular fat （IMF）, an important flavor precursor of porcine meat, is closely related to pork quality traits such as pH, color, tenderness, water-holding capacity （WHC） and juiciness, and thus is one of the important factors affecting pork quality. Pork IMF content is not only associated with swine breed on heredity, but also influenced by the alteration of nutrients in diet. These may give a possibility for researchers to improve the IMF content and pork quality by their work on swine breed or heredity, and nutrition regulation in diet. Therefore, this article summarizes the effects of swine breed and nutrition regulation on IMF content briefly to provide some information for future researches.

Influences of dietary protein sources and crude protein levels on intracellular free amino acid profile in the longissimus dorsi muscle of finishing gilts

Background： The current study was carried out to determine effects of dietary protein source and crude protein（CP）level on carcass characteristics, meat quality, and muscle amino acid（AA） profile in finishing gilts. The experiment was designed as a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with two sources of dietary proteins（cottonseed meal, CSM vs. soybean meal, SBM） and two levels of CP（12 % vs. 14 %, as-fed basis）. Seventy-two crossbred gilts（89.5 ± 0.9 kg） were allotted to one of four dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design for a period of 28 d. All diets were formulated to be isoenergetic and similar concentrations of standardized ileal digestible essential AA covering the nutrient requirements of pigs.Results： Growth, carcass characteristics and meat quality were not affected by dietary protein source nor crude protein level（P ＆gt; 0.10） except that average daily feed intake was increased by CSM diets（P = 0.03）. Gilts offered reduced protein diets had lower muscle p H45min（P 〈 0.05）. Neither dietary protein source nor crude protein level influenced N deposition. However, reduced protein diets decreased N intake, N excretion, and serum urea nitrogen content, whilst improved N efficiency（P 〈 0.01）. CSM diets increased N intake（P = 0.04）,but did not depress N efficiency. The concentrations of phenylalanine, tryptophan, cysteine and tyrosine（P 〈 0.05） of the longissimus muscle were decreased when gilts offered CSM diets, while muscle intracellular free valine concentration was increased（P = 0.03）. The gilts offered reduced protein diets had greater intracellular concentrations of free methionine, lysine, and total AA in muscle（P 〈 0.05）.Conclusion： These results suggest that CSM could replace SBM as a primary protein source in finishing pig diets in terms of performance, N efficiency, carcass characteristics, and meat quality, but decrease the concentrations of muscle specific AA. Furthermore, the reduced protein diet played an important role in increasing muscle intracellular concentrations of specific free amino acids（FAA）, and in reducing the relative ratios of specific FAA to lysine in longissimus dorsi muscle of pig, whose biological meaning needs further studies.

Effects of the ratio of unsaturated fatty acid to saturated fatty acid on the growth performance,carcass and meat quality of finishing pigs

The effects on finishing pigs(80-100 kg BW) fed diets supplemented with oil sources containing different ratios of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids(UFA:SFA ratio) were evaluated in 15 barrows and15 gilts(Duroc × Large White × Landrace). Three experimental diets were evaluated using a randomized complete block design, with broken rice, soybean meal and rice bran as the main feedstuffs in the control diet. Diets 2 and 3 consisted of the control diet supplemented with 3% oil, with UFA:SFA ratios of 2.5:1 and 5:1, respectively. Overall, there was no significant difference(P> 0.05) found in the average daily gain(ADG) of the pigs fed the treatment diets; however, the pigs fed the control diet and diet 3 had better(P < 0.05) feed conversion ratios(FCR) than the pigs fed diet 2. The pigs fed diets 2 and 3, which were supplemented with oil at UFA:SFA ratios of 2.5:1 and 5:1, had greater(P < 0.05) average daily feed intakes(ADFI) than the pigs in the control group. Additionally, it was found that the gender of the pigs had an effect(P < 0.05) on the FCR. Interaction effects between the experimental diets and the gender of the pigs(P < 0.05) were found in the ADFI and FCR. There were no significance differences(P > 0.05)among the treatment groups with regard to the carcass quality of the pigs; however, it was found that the gilts had greater(P < 0.01) loin eye areas than the barrows fed diets 2 and 3 and the loin eye area of pig fed diet 2 was the largest(P < 0.05); In the case of the meat quality parameters, it was clearly found that the pigs fed the control diet had a greater(P < 0.05) lightness(L~*) in the meat colour, and the lowest cooking loss was found in the pigs fed the diet supplemented with fat containing the UFA:SFA ratio of 5:1.Overall, the dietary treatment did not significantly affect the drip loss, thawing loss and shear force of the pork. In conclusion, the supplementation of oil with UFA:SFA ratios of 2.5:1 and 5:1 has the potential to improve pork quality.