Effect of organic pig production systems on performance and meat quality

The present study was carried out to establish knowledge of consequence for setting up guidelines of importance for production of competitive organic pork of high quality. Performance and meat quality characteristics were compared between three organic pig production systems based on indoor housing...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Meat science 2006-12, Vol.74 (4), p.605-615
Main Authors: Hansen, L.L., Claudi-Magnussen, C., Jensen, S.K., Andersen, H.J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
alternative farming
animal housing
animal performance
animal production
Animal productions
backfat
Biological and medical sciences
carcass weight
carcass yield
dressing percentage
fatty acid composition
feed concentrates
feed conversion
finishing
Food industries
free stalls
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
guidelines
lean meat
Meat and meat product industries
meat quality
Organic
organic certification
organic production
Pig
pig carcasses
Pork
Production systems
Quality
swine
Terrestrial animal productions
Vertebrates
Yield
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Summary:The present study was carried out to establish knowledge of consequence for setting up guidelines of importance for production of competitive organic pork of high quality. Performance and meat quality characteristics were compared between three organic pig production systems based on indoor housing with access to an outdoor area and a Danish conventional indoor system including 100% concentrate during the finishing feeding stage. The three organic systems used the following three feeding regimes: 100% organic concentrate according to Danish recommendations, 70% organic concentrate (restricted) plus ad libitum organic barley/pea silage and 70% organic concentrate (restricted) plus ad libitum organic clover grass silage, respectively. With exception of a slightly lower daily gain in organic pigs fed 100% concentrate, no significant difference was found in performance and meat quality characteristics compared with results obtained in the conventional system. In contrast and independent of roughage used, organic pigs raised on 70% concentrate had a significant reduction in daily gain ( P < 0.001) compared with pigs raised on 100% concentrate, despite the fact that no difference in feed conversion rate was seen between the tested production systems. However, the percentage of leanness increased significantly in meat from organic pigs raised on 70% concentrate plus roughage compared with meat from pigs given 100% concentrate. This was reflected in higher yield (weight) of lean cuts and lower yield of cuts with high fat content from pigs fed 70% concentrate plus roughage. In general, organic feeding resulted in a significantly higher content of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the back fat (1.8%), which increased further when restricted feeding plus roughage (4%) was used. Restricted concentrate feeding gave rise to a decrease in tenderness compared with pork from pigs fed 100% concentrate.
ISSN:0309-1740
1873-4138
DOI:10.1016/j.meatsci.2006.02.014