Meat Quality and Physicochemical Trait Assessments of Berkshire and Commercial 3-way Crossbred Pigs

In this study, we compared qualities and physiochemical traits of meat from Berkshire (black color) pigs with those of meat from 3-way Landrace (white color) × Yorkshire (white color) × Duroc (red color) crossbred pigs (LYD). Meat quality characteristics, including pH, color, drip loss, cooking loss, and free amino acid, fatty acid, vitamin, and mineral contents of longissimus dorsi muscles, were compared. Meat from Berkshire pigs had deeper meat color (redness), higher pH, and lower drip loss and cooking loss than meat from LYD pigs. Moreover, meat from Berkshire pigs had higher levels of phosphoserine, aspartic acid, threonine, serine, asparagine, α-aminoadipic acid, valine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, tyrosine, histidine, tryptophan, and carnosine and lower levels of glutamic acid, glycine, alanine, and ammonia than did meat from LYD pigs. The fatty acids oleic acid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) were present in significantly higher concentrations in Berkshire muscles than they were in LYD muscles. Additionally, Berkshire muscles were significantly enriched with nucleotide components (inosine), minerals (Mg and K), and antioxidant vitamins such as ascorbic acid (C) in comparison with LYD muscles. In conclusion, our results show that in comparison with LYD meat, Berkshire meat has better meat quality traits and is a superior nutritional source of all essential amino acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, vitamin C, and minerals (Mg and K).