Food Quality and Technology Program, IRTA, Finca Camps i Armet, 17121 Monells, Spain.
Animal Welfare Program, IRTA, Veïnat de Sies, 17121 Monells, Spain.
Animal. 2021 Apr;15(4):100189. doi: 10.1016/j.animal.2021.100189. Epub 2021 Feb 23.
Castration is a common practice in Iberian pigs due to their advanced age and high weight at slaughter. Immunocastration (IC) is an alternative to surgical castration that influences carcass and cut fatness. These traits need to be evaluated in vivo and postmortem. The aims of the present work were (a) to determine the relationship between ham composition measured with computed tomography (CT) and in vivo ultrasound (US) and carcass fat thickness measurements, (b) to apply these technologies to early (EIP) and late (LIP) immunocastrated Iberian pigs in order to evaluate carcass fatness and ham tissue composition and (c) to assess meat quality on these animals and to find the relationships between meat quality traits (namely, intramuscular fat (IMF)) and fat depot thicknesses. For this purpose, 20 purebred Iberian pigs were immunocastrated with three doses of Improvac ®, at either 4.5, 5.5 and 9 or 11, 12 and 14 months of age (EIP or LIP; respectively; n = 10 each) and slaughtered at 17 months of age. Fat depots were evaluated in vivo by US, in carcass with a ruler and in hams by CT. Carcass and cut yields, loin meat quality and loin acceptability by consumers were determined. Also, IMF was determined in the loin and three muscles of the ham. Carcass weight was 14.9 kg heavier in EIP vs LIP, and loin backfat thickness (US- and ruler-measured) was also greater in EIP. Similarly, CT-evaluated ham bone and fat contents were greater and smaller for EIP vs LIP, respectively. Loin and ham IMF were also greater in EIP, but the other meat quality parameters were similar. The acceptability of meat by consumers was high and it did not differ between IC protocols. Correlations between several fat depots measured with the different technologies were high. In conclusion, all these technologies allowed fat depot measurements, which were highly correlated despite being obtained at different anatomical locations.
去势是由于伊比利亚猪年龄较大和屠宰时体重较高而普遍采用的一种做法。免疫去势（IC）是一种替代手术去势的方法，会影响胴体和切块的脂肪含量。这些特性需要在体内和死后进行评估。本研究的目的是：（a）确定使用计算机断层扫描（CT）和体内超声（US）测量的火腿组成与胴体脂肪厚度测量之间的关系，（b）将这些技术应用于早期（EIP）和晚期（LIP）免疫去势的伊比利亚猪，以评估胴体脂肪含量和火腿组织组成，（c）评估这些动物的肉质，并找到肉质特性（即肌内脂肪（IMF））与脂肪沉积厚度之间的关系。为此，对 20 头纯种伊比利亚猪进行了免疫去势，用 Improvac ® 进行了三次免疫，免疫时间分别为 4.5、5.5 和 9 个月，或 11、12 和 14 个月（EIP 或 LIP；n=10），然后在 17 个月龄时进行屠宰。使用 US 在体内评估脂肪沉积，使用标尺在胴体上，使用 CT 在火腿上进行评估。还确定了胴体和切块的产量、腰肉的质量和消费者对腰肉的可接受性。此外，还确定了 loin 和火腿的三种肌肉中的 IMF。EIP 的胴体重比 LIP 重 14.9kg，EIP 的背膘厚度（US 和标尺测量）也较大。同样，EIP 的火腿骨和脂肪含量的 CT 评估结果分别较大和较小。EIP 的 loin 和 ham IMF 也较大，但其他肉质参数相似。消费者对肉的可接受性很高，两种 IC 方案之间没有差异。不同技术测量的多个脂肪沉积之间的相关性很高。总之，所有这些技术都允许测量脂肪沉积，尽管这些技术是在不同的解剖位置获得的，但相关性很高。
