Meat quality describes the attractiveness of meat to consumers. The present paper focuses on two major aspects of meat quality, tenderness and flavour. Both aspects of quality can be influenced by nutrition, principally through its effects on the amount and type of fat in meat. In several countries, high levels of intramuscular fat (marbling fat), i.e. above 30 g/kg muscle weight in longissimus...

This study aimed at characterising 606 crossbred pigs of three commercially available breed types in terms of their carcass and meat quality. Breed G and H were German Large White (LW)×German Landrace (LR) sows sired with Pietrain (PI) boars, i.e. PI×(LW×LR). Breed S was 25% Duroc (DU), i.e. PI×(DU×LR). Most of the parameters were affected by breed and/or date of slaughter. The meat of crossbre...

The research was conducted on pig carcasses and meat of 16 Black Slavonian pigs, fattened to approximately 130 kg body mass (group A), and 16 pigs of the same breed fattened to approximately 110 kg body mass (group B). Pigs were kept in the semi-outdoor system, with the same housing and feeding conditions. Dissection of right cooled pig carcasses (+4oC) was conducted according to the modified m...

Advances in the fields of molecular genetics and genomics have been considerable over the past several years. Recent discoveries in human genetics and in molecular biology have led to the development of a very useful genetic map of the pig. Several recent quantitative trait loci (QTL) scans and candidate gene analyses have identified important chromosomal regions and individual genes associated...

pHu of meat is an index of high quality since it is associated with a bright red colour, increased tenderness, increased flavour and increased keeping and cooking qualities. Few studies have examined glycogen level and/or metabolism directly in meat producing animals. Instead most studies have examined the pHu of meat as an index of glycogen metabolism. This is unfortunate since the pHu of meat...

Both plant and animal ingredients are used commonly to formulate balanced diets for poultry. Although many changes have been occurred in the genetics, nutrition and feeding of modern meat chickens, free selection and indiscriminate uses of feedstuffs for the non-ruminant animal diets can be hazardous due to the emerging threat of diseases outbreak via animal by-products. Besides this, many othe...

Lighting programs that provide longer daylength as a broiler ages reduce the incidence of ascites and sudden death syndrome. Birds given this type of program often have an increased incidence of carcass scratches due to increased bird activity. The turkey industry uses microwave technology to restrict claw growth and reduce carcass scratches. One concern is that the treatment may reduce bird gr...

One hundred thirty-one pigs representing seven different breed groups (Minnesota No. 1 [M], Pietrain [P], Yorkshire [Y], and crosses PY, P[PY], P[NP], and P[YP]P) and three halothane gene genotypes (NN, Nn, and nn) were tested for breed, sex, and halothane gene (HAL) effects on growth and carcass performance. Breed effects were significant for all traits measured. Sex effect was significant for...

Improvements in eating satisfaction will benefit consumers and should increase beef demand which is of interest to the beef industry. Tenderness, juiciness, and flavor are major determinants of the palatability of beef and are often used to reflect eating satisfaction. Carcass qualities are used as indicator traits for meat quality, with higher quality grade carcasses expected to relate to more...

The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effect of dietary fat type and level on broiler meat quality. A 2 × 3 factorial arrangement with 2 types of fat including neutralized sunflower soapstock (NSS) and soybean oil (SO) at 3 levels of fat inclusion (2, 4, and 6%) was used with 5 replicates per treatment using 750 one-day-old broiler chicks in a completely randomized design. At t...