The effect of genotype, sex and management strategy on the eating quality of pork

Two hundred and sixteen (Large White×Landrace×Duroc) crossbred pigs were used to determine the influence of genotype, sex, and management strategies on pork quality. The experiment was a 2×3×3 factorial design with the main treatments being genotype (A — 50% and B — <25% Duroc bloodline), sex (females, surgical barrows and immunological barrows) and management strategy (control — C, dietary conjugated linoleic acid supplementation — CLA, and porcine somatotropin administration — pST). Genotype A pigs had less backfat (P2 site), higher intramuscular fat percentage, higher muscle ultimate pH (pHu) and surface exudate, and the pork was tougher and less acceptable compared with Genotype B pigs. Female pigs had lower muscle pHu, higher surface exudate and tougher pork compared with both surgical and immunological barrows. Pigs fed the control diet had lower muscle pHu and higher surface exudate compared with pigs fed the CLA supplemented diet or administered pST. Pigs fed the control diet had higher consumer likeness scores for flavour, tenderness, juiciness and overall acceptability compared with pigs fed the CLA supplemented diet or administered pST. The results from this experiment indicate that pork eating quality is reliant on a complex interaction between genotype and sex. The results also indicate that management strategies such as pST administration and CLA supplementation, while being effective in reducing backfat, have the potential to have a negative impact on pork quality.