Fazarinc Gregor, Batorek-Lukač Nina, Škrlep Martin, Poklukar Klavdija, Van den Broeke Alice, Kress Kevin, Labussière Etienne, Stefanski Volker, Vrecl Milka, Čandek-Potokar Marjeta
Veterinary Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Gerbičeva ulica 60, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, Hacquetova ulica 17, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Jun 20;13(12):2042. doi: 10.3390/ani13122042.
Immunocastration and rearing of entire males (EMs) are sustainable alternatives to surgical castration. However, these animal carcasses have variable risk of boar taint and should be identified at the slaughter line. We aimed to identify a simple and reliable indicator of androstenone-related boar taint by evaluating pelvic urogenital tract weight as a marker of boar-taint animals at the slaughter line. The pelvic urogenital tract, testes, and accessory sex glands of EMs and immunocastrates (ICs) were collected, dissected, and weighed, before colorimetric measurements of testicular tissue. Additionally, GnRH antibody titers and testosterone, androstenone, and skatole levels were determined. Our results showed that 81.8% of EMs had androstenone levels above the risk threshold (>0.5 µg/g fat; EM/A subgroup), whereas in ICs, the C/A subgroup with androstenone >0.5 µg/g fat accounted for only 4.3%. Androstenone levels correlated negatively with GnRH antibody titers and positively with testosterone levels and reproductive organ weights. Identification of ICs with androstenone levels above the threshold (IC/A subgroup) may be achieved via testes or pelvic urogenital tract weight measurements. However, in EMs, the latter is a more reliable parameter. A principal component analysis based on these variables and hierarchical clustering also distinguished the A from the A subgroup, irrespective of IC/EM. The findings highlight the possible use of pelvic urogenital tract weight along with testes weight as a simple, reliable, and efficient morphometric indicator for identifying androstenone-positive carcasses of different sex categories.
免疫去势和饲养完整雄性猪（EMs）是手术去势的可持续替代方法。然而，这些动物的胴体存在公猪膻味风险差异，应在屠宰线上进行识别。我们旨在通过评估盆腔泌尿生殖道重量作为屠宰线上公猪膻味动物的标志物，来确定一种简单可靠的雄烯酮相关公猪膻味指标。收集、解剖并称重EMs和免疫去势猪（ICs）的盆腔泌尿生殖道、睾丸和附属性腺，然后对睾丸组织进行比色测量。此外，还测定了促性腺激素释放激素（GnRH）抗体滴度以及睾酮、雄烯酮和粪臭素水平。我们的结果表明，81.8%的EMs雄烯酮水平高于风险阈值（>0.5μg/g脂肪；EM/A亚组），而在ICs中，雄烯酮>0.5μg/g脂肪的C/A亚组仅占4.3%。雄烯酮水平与GnRH抗体滴度呈负相关，与睾酮水平和生殖器官重量呈正相关。通过睾丸或盆腔泌尿生殖道重量测量可识别雄烯酮水平高于阈值的ICs（IC/A亚组）。然而，对于EMs，后者是一个更可靠的参数。基于这些变量的主成分分析和层次聚类也区分了A亚组和A亚组，无论IC/EM如何。研究结果突出了盆腔泌尿生殖道重量与睾丸重量一起作为一种简单、可靠且有效的形态学指标，用于识别不同性别类别中雄烯酮阳性胴体的可能性。
