Blood haematology, muscle pH and serum cortisol changes in pigs with different levels of drip loss

OBJECTIVE An experiment was conducted to study the blood haematology, muscle pH, and serum cortisol changes in pigs with different levels of drip loss. METHODS Two groups (low and high) of 20 animals were selected from 100 pigs based on drip loss. All [Duroc× (Large White×Landrace)] pigs were slaughtered according to standard slaughtering procedures. At exsanguinations, blood samples were taken for the haematological parameters and serum cortisol analysis. The muscle samples were taken from longissimus dorsi muscle to evaluate the muscle pH and drip loss. RESULTS Haematological parameters of low drip loss group showed higher content of white blood cells and monocytes than high drip loss group (p<0.05). The low drip loss group had higher muscle pH at 45 min (p<0.05) and 24 h (p<0.001) post-mortem than the high drip loss group. However, there was no significant difference in serum cortisol levels (p>0.05). CONCLUSION Drip loss is mainly affected by the muscle pH decline after slaughter and also might be affected by white blood cells and monocytes.