Outdoor Finishing of Intact Male Portuguese Alentejano Pigs on a Sustainable High-Fiber Diet: Impacts on Blood, Growth, Carcass, Meat Quality and Boar Taint Compounds

What is it about?

EU consumers are increasingly concerned about the practice of surgical castration of male piglets. An alternative approach that is more welfare-friendly is to raise intact pigs, but it is important to limit boar taint in the meat and fat of these animals, which produces an off-odor and flavor rejected by consumers when perceived. One way to accomplish this is by diet manipulation, as reported in previous studies with commercial non-castrated hybrid pigs selected for lean meat deposition. In this trial, we tested the effect of sex on the blood, growth, carcass, and meat quality as well as on the boar taint compounds of Alentejano pigs. The pigs were raised outdoors and fed commercial and fiber-rich diets, the latter known for their potential to reduce boar taint. The results show that outdoor raised intact Alentejano pigs grew faster and produced leaner and less saturated meat than castrated ones. Although the experimental diet had no significant effect on boar taint compounds, the levels detected on most Alentejano pigs were, however, below the threshold values for consumer detection.

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