Meat and carcass quality of heavy muscled Belgian slaughter pigs as influenced by halothane sensitivity and breed

Abstract

In order to investigate the antagonism between meat quantity and quality, halothane-positive (HP) and -negative (HN) Belgian Landrace pigs (B) and Pietrain × Belgian Landrace crosses (PB) were compared for several carcass and meat quality traits. They originated from three commercial farms and were slaughtered in a commercial abattoir. Carcass quality was determined by a SKGlI-device. Meat quality traits were measured on the warm and cold carcass, and on a loin slice. HP and PB pigs showed better carcass quality, and inferior meat quality, compared with HN and B pigs respectively. No significant halothane sensitivity × breed interaction was apparent for most traits. Sex did not affect meat quality. Slaughter day variance was considerable. The inverse relationship between lean content or conformation score and meat quality was generally more pronounced in the HP group compared to the HN group (except for drip and cooking losses). Irrespective of halothane status, carcass conformational score was more negatively related to meat quality than was lean content.