A canonical correlation analysis of the association between carcass and ham traits in pigs used to produce dry-cured ham (original) (raw)
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Meat Science, 2010
Carcass and ham quality characteristics of pig populations divided by harvest weights -HW (130 and 160 kg) were evaluated to determine the effects of gender (barrows and gilts) and distinct genetic groupspurebred (DUDU) and crossbred Duroc (DULA, DUWI and DULL) as well as purebred Large White (WIWI) on the suitability for use in dry-cured ham production. At 130 kg, DUDU pigs yielded the highest fat thickness of the ham (P b 0.01) and an intramuscular fat content (IMF) of 3.15% in Semimembranosus muscle (SM). DUDU pigs also had a SM pH u of 5.7. This genetic group met the specifications for dry-cured ham production. No differences could be found in meat quality characteristics between genetic groups harvested at 160 kg. However at this HW, gilts produced significantly (P b 0.05) heavier and leaner hams compared to barrows.
The quality of pork ham - tissue yield depending on individual factors
Biotehnologija u stocarstvu, 2018
The study included the progeny of three boar-sires breeds (SL-Swedish Landrace; LW-Large White and P-Pietrain). A total of 201 progeny of both sexes (93 female and 108 male castrated animals), originating from 16 boarsires, were tested. The study included the progeny of 10 SL boar-sires (sires nuRWer: 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 15, 16, 17 and 18), progeny of 3 LW sires (sires nuRWer: 4, 5 and 6) and 3 P boar-sires (sires nuRWer 14, 19 and 20), born in four seasons (winter, spring, summer and autumn). Studies have shown that, with an mean weight of a warm carcass side of 81.20 kg, the highest mean values for ham weight (RW; 10.456 kg), mass of intermuscular fatty tissue (RINT; 0.477 kg), ham bone (RB; 0.837 kg) and muscle tissue RMT, 7,939 kg) have progeny of the sires of Pietrain breed (P) compared to SL and LW sires. In comparison to animals sired by SL and LW boars, the progeny of P sires had less skin and subcutaneous fat tissue (RSFT) by 30 and 549 grams. Studies have shown that we have progeny of sires 7 and 9 of SL breed which have the lowest LSMean values for the yield of skin and subcutaneous fat tissue (869 and 876 g), which is below the mean for breed by 364 and 357 g. In addition, when it comes to intermuscular fatty tissue, the lowest established value was recorded in the progeny of sire no. 8 of SL breed (182 g), which is by 220 g less than the general mean and by 132 g below the mean of the sire breed. The animals originating from sires n. 19 and 20 showed the highest weight of muscle tissue (RMT) (8.489 and 8.118 kg) in the ham, which is by 2.853 and 2.482 kg more meat compared to the progeny of sire no. 5 of LW breed. The total weight of the ham and the ham muscle yield were influenced by (P <0.01 and P <0.001) sire breed, sires within the breed, gender and season of birth. A very significant (P <0.001) influence of the weight of warm carcass sides on the ham weight and tissue yield was determined.
Animals, 2021
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...
Prediction of dry-cured ham weight loss and prospects of use in a pig breeding program
Animal, 2020
Large ham weight losses (WL) in dry-curing are undesired as they lead to a loss of marketable product and penalise the quality of the dry-cured ham. The availability of early predictions of WL may ease the adaptation of the dry-curing process to the characteristics of the thighs and increase the effectiveness of selective breeding in enhancing WL. Aims of this study were (i) to develop Bayesian and Random Forests (RFs) regression models for the prediction of ham WL during dry-curing using on-site infrared spectra of raw ham subcutaneous fat, carcass and raw ham traits as predictors and (ii) to estimate genetic parameters for WL and their predictions (P-WL). Visible-near infrared spectra were collected on the transversal section of the subcutaneous fat of raw hams. Carcass traits were carcass weight, carcass backfat depth, lean meat content and weight of raw hams. Raw ham traits included measures of ham subcutaneous fat depth and linear scores for round shape, subcutaneous fat thickness and marbling of the visible muscles of the thigh. Measures of WL were available for 1672 hams. The best prediction accuracies were those of a Bayesian regression model including the average spectrum, carcass and raw ham traits, with R 2 values in validation of 0.46, 0.55 and 0.62, for WL at end of salting (23 days), resting (90 days) and curing (12 months), respectively. When WL at salting was used as an additional predictor of total WL, the R 2 in validation was 0.67. Bayesian regressions were more accurate than RFs models in predicting all the investigated traits. Restricted maximum likelihood (REML) estimates of genetic parameters for WL and P-WL at the end of curing were estimated through a bivariate animal model including 1672 measures of WL and 8819 P-WL records. Results evidenced that the traits are heritable (h 2 ± SE was 0.27 ± 0.04 for WL and 0.39 ± 0.04 for P-WL), and the additive genetic correlation is positive and high (r a = 0.88 ± 0.03). Prediction accuracy of ham WL is high enough to envisage a future use of prediction models in identifying batches of hams requiring an adaptation of the processing conditions to optimise results of the manufacturing process. The positive and high genetic correlation detected between WL and P-WL at the end of dry-curing, as well as the estimated heritability for P-WL, suggests that P-WL can be successfully used as an indicator trait of the measured WL in pig breeding programs.
Animal, 2021
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.
Characterizing Ham and Loin Quality as Hot Carcass Weight Increases to an Average of 119 Kilograms
Meat and Muscle Biology, 2019
The objective was to characterize ham and loin quality of carcasses ranging from 78 to 145 kg (average ∼119 kg). Hot carcass weight (HCW), back fat depth, and loin depth was measured on 666 carcasses. Loin pH, instrumental and visual color and iodine value of clear plate fat (all 3 layers) was measured on approximately 90% of the population. Quality measurements of the ham, 14 d aged loin and chop, and loin chop shear force (SSF) were evaluated on approximately 30% of the population. Myosin heavy chain fiber type determination was completed on 49 carcasses. Slopes of regression lines and coefficients of determination between HCW and quality traits were calculated using the REG procedure in SAS and considered significantly different from 0 at P ≤ 0.05. As HCW increased, loin depth (b1 = 0.2496, P < 0.0001), back fat depth (b1 = 0.1374, P < 0.0001), loin weight (b1 = 0.0345, P < 0.0001), and ham weight (b1 = 0.1044, P < 0.0001) increased. Estimated lean (b1 = –0.0751, P &l...
Social interactions among animals raised in pens can aff ect their performance. In this study direct and competitive models were compared to investigate the infl uence of social genetic eff ects on variation of carcass weight (CW), carcass lean meat content (LM) and ham round shape (RS) in heavy pigs. Four sequential models including, in addition to sex and slaughter group fi xed eff ects, the random eff ects of the social group, litter (full-sibs family), direct and social genetic eff ects of pigs were evaluated. Social group and litter eff ects accounted for about 4 and 3% of the phenotypic variance, respectively. When social genetic eff ects were added to model, a small social heritability was estimated for all traits (from 0.3 to 0.7% of the phenotypic variance). A negative correlation between direct and social eff ects was estimated for LM and RS, reducing the total heritable variance available for selection. Model comparison showed that the best fi t was provided by the model including only direct additive genetic eff ects of pigs. So, this model seems still preferable for the genetic evaluation of the investigated traits.
Use of multivariate analysis to evaluate genetic groups of pigs for dry-cured ham production
Livestock Science, 2012
Records of a pig population used for dry-cured ham production were used to evaluate genetic groups by multivariate analysis. The investigated genetic groups were as follows: DULL¼Duroc  (Landrace  Large White), DULA¼ Duroc  Landrace, DUWI¼ Duroc  Large White, WIWI¼ Large White and DUDU¼ Duroc. Two groups were obtained for the carcass traits hot carcass weight (HCW), backfat thickness (BT) and loin depth (LD), with the groups including 597 and 341 animals harvested at 130 kg and at 160 kg weights, respectively. Two groups were also found for ham traits gross ham weight (GHW), trimmed ham weight (THW), ham inner layer fat thickness (HIFT), ham outer layer fat thickness (HOFT), pH (PH), and Göfo value, with 393 and 91 animals harvested at 130 kg and 160 kg weights, respectively. The analysis was performed within each group of traits and harvest weights, and the animals without records were excluded. The first and the second canonical variables explained 97.5% and 93.6% of the total variation for the carcass traits at 130 kg and 160 kg, respectively, and 88.8% of ham traits at 130 kg. In the dispersion graph concerning the canonical means, a significant distance was observed between the genetic groups DUDU and WIWI for the carcass traits at 130 kg and 160 kg and the ham traits at 130 kg. The 50% Duroc animals exhibited little dispersion regarding the carcass traits at 130 kg and 160 kg and were not divergent from the DUDU genetic group for the ham traits at 130 kg. In a cluster analysis using the single linkage method, DULL, DULA and DUWI were grouped with a high similarity level for the carcass traits at 130 kg and 160 kg and ham traits at 130 kg. Using the Tocher optimization method, 50% Duroc crossbred and 100% Duroc purebred animals were grouped for the ham traits at 130 kg, suggesting that for ham traits, 50% Duroc animals were similar to 100% Duroc purebred animals. In this context, the genetic groups Duroc  Large White, Duroc  Landrace and Duroc  (Landrace  Large White) are recommended for use in producing dry-cured ham.
Phenotypic correlations among quality traits of fresh and dry-cured hams
Meat Science, 2007
In this study, fresh and processing quality traits were collected on a total of 312 Country Hams. Phenotypic correlations between traits were estimated and numerous values were significantly different (P < 0.05) from zero. Yield was significantly correlated with several fresh pork quality traits measured on the fresh hams, including subjective color (0.34) and lipid percentage (0.32). Some meat color traits were significantly correlated, including associations between the color scores taken on the fresh and cured hams. Correlations between fresh pork quality traits were also determined, with results showing significant correlations between ultimate pH and other pork quality traits.
Investigation of uniformity in pig carcass and meat quality traits
animal, 2010
The study was carried out to provide information on uniformity of commercial pigs on some of the most important traits determining pork quality: carcass, loin, ham and shoulder weights, fatness, drip loss, pH and colour. Three batches of pigs raised at the same farm and slaughtered at four different dates in the same commercial abattoir were considered. Batches included halothane-free females and castrated males, Duroc and Pietrain sire lines and two slaughter weights, but a common maternal line. The first batch was obtained using commercial Duroc sire boars, and included a total of 112 animals (56 castrated males and 56 females). The second batch used Duroc and Pietrain sire boars with the target to achieve two different final weights (105 and 115 kg live weight); 128 animals were controlled (64 castrated males and 64 females), 16 for each combination of sire boar, sex and final weight. The last batch used only Pietrain sire boars with 96 controlled pigs (48 castrated males and 48 ...