Pork producers have the goal to efficiently produce lean, quality pork to compete with alternative animal products. The implementation of lean value carcass pricing systems has led to the selection of pigs with increased lean growth rates, increased carcass lean percentages, and improved lean feed conversion. Health, nutrition, and facility management strategies have been implemented to increas...

Crossbred barrows (n = 144; 80 kg) from four farrowing groups were phenotypically selected into fat (FAT) and lean (LEAN) pens using ultrasound. The difference in 10th-rib fat depth between the LEAN and FAT groups was > or =0.5 cm. Within a farrowing group, pigs were assigned to pens (five pigs per pen and eight pens per phenotype) to equalize pen weight and fat depth. Pigs were fed a corn-soyb...

The objective of this study was to benchmark carcasses and muscles from commercially identified fed (animals that were perceived to have been fed an increased plane of nutrition before slaughter) and nonfed cull beef and dairy cows and A-maturity, USDA Select steers, so that the muscles could be identified from cull cow carcasses that may be used to fill a void of intermediately priced beef ste...

A resource flock of 362 F2 lambs provided phenotypic and genotypic data to estimate effects of callipyge (CLPG) genotypes on growth, slaughter, and carcass traits. Lambs were serially slaughtered in six groups at 3-wk intervals starting at 23 wk of age to allow comparisons at different end points. Probabilities of CLPG genotypes were calculated at a position 86 cM from the most centromeric mark...

Effects of feeding ractopamine (RAC; 5 mg/kg) to physically castrated (PC) and immunologically castrated (IC) pigs on carcass characteristics, cutting yields, and loin quality were evaluated using 285 carcasses. Male pigs were randomly assigned to sex treatments (PC and IC) at birth and fed the same nursery diets before allotment into 32 pens with 22 pigs per pen in a grow-finish barn. Pigs in ...

A resource flock of 362 F2 lambs provided phenotypic and genotypic data to estimate effects of callipyge ( CLPG) genotypes on growth, slaughter, and carcass traits. Lambs were serially slaughtered in six groups at 3-wk intervals starting at 23 wk of age to allow comparisons at different end points. Probabilities of CLPG genotypes were calculated at a position 86 cM from the most centromeric mar...

Several studies have reported the presence of carcass quality QTL on BTA14 and BTA26, with no specific genes being conclusively linked as their cause. The aim of this study was to identify polymorphisms in genes known to affect lipid metabolism in other species and to assess their association with carcass quality traits. Two genes located on BTA14, 2,4 dienoyl CoA reductase 1 (DECR1) and core b...

The challenge to the pork industry is to produce lean pigs without compromising pork quality. The leanest genotypes of pigs have poorer muscle quality (lower color scores, lower percent intramuscular fat, greater drip loss) and poorer fat quality (soft, unsliceable bellies) in comparison to genotypes with average leanness. Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) refers to a group of linoleic acid isomer...

An intercross between wild boar and a domestic Large White pig population was used to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) for body proportions, weight of internal organs, carcass composition, and meat quality. The results concerning growth traits and fat deposition traits have been reported elsewhere. In the present study, all 200 F2 animals, their parents, and their grandparents were genotyped f...

I . Pigs from 20 to 60 kg live weight were fed on cereal diets, supplemented only with vitamins and minerals, with and without supplementary lysine. 2. Growth rate, feed:gain ratio and carcass quality of pigs given a high-barley diet (75 barley meal, 23 % wheat offal) were inferior to those of pigs given a high-wheat offal diet (75 :h wheat offal, 23 yo barley meal). 3. On both diets, but parti...