Morphological composition of pig carcasses of Danish and Canadian origin and the effect of sex and pre-slaughter weight on their quality

The article studied the morphological composition of the carcasses of gilts and surgical castrates of Danish and Canadian origin with a pre-slaughter live weight of 110 and 130 kg and the influence of the factors of gender and pre-slaughter weight of pigs on the quality of their carcasses. It was established that the increase in pre-slaughter weight in animals of both genotypes led to increased fatness and decreased bone density. At the same time, the meatiness of the carcasses was preserved at almost not the same level. It was found that with an increase in the pre-slaughter weight of Danish pigs by 20 kg, the weight of the chilled carcass increased by 20.6 %, the weight of meat by 18.2 %, the weight of lard by 28.4 %, and the weight of bones in it by 17.3 %, the yield of fat in the carcass increased by 6.5%, while the proportion of meat in it decreased by 1.9 % and bones by 3.1 %. At the same time, in animals of Canadian origin, with a similar increase in pre-slaughter weight, the weight of the chilled carcass increased by 22.4 %, the weight of meat in it by 20.2 %, the weight of fat by 30.1 %, and the weight of bones in it by 17.7 %. the yield of fat in the carcass increased by 6.3 %, while the share of meat in it decreased by 1.8 % and bones by 3.8 %. It was proven that with such an increase in the weight category in males, the mass of the chilled carcass increased by 21.9 %, the mass of meat increased by 19.6 %, the mass of lard increased by 29.6 %, and the mass of bones in the carcass increased by 18.3 %. The share of lard in it was 6.3 %, while the yield of meat decreased by 1.9 %, and the yield of bones was 3.0 %. At the same time, in pigs, with a similar increase in pre-slaughter weight, the weight of the chilled carcass increased by 22.4 %, the weight of meat in it increased by 24.7 %, the weight of fat by 34.8 %, and the weight of bones by 21.9%, increased by 6.2 % yield of lard, and the yield of meat decreased by 1.7 % and the proportion of bones decreased by 3.9 %. With increased pre-slaughter weight of both females and males of the investigated genotypes of pigs, the meatiness decreased slightly, and the fatness and bone density of the carcasses increased. It was determined that the pre-slaughter live weight of pigs had a probable, solid influence on the slaughter weight, gizzard weight, beam weight, carcass length, “muscle eye” area, and lard thickness. At the same time, its influence on slaughter yield and mass loss during cooling turned out to be statistically improbable. Gender had a significant effect on slaughter yield, carcass length, beam weight, and gizzard weight, while its impact on chilling weight loss, slaughter weight, muscle eye area, and lard thickness was not statistically significant. The interaction of the two factors studied did not significantly affect the parameters of the carcass studied.