Effect of long term dietary supplementation with plant extract on meat quality in heavy pigs

Background and objective: In the recent years considerable attention has been given to the improvement of meat quality parameters.Some plant extracts contain phenylpropanoid glycosides (PPG) that have many biological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobic and antioxidant. Verbascoside, are the most abundant compounds in Verbenaceaeextracts. The objective of the present study was to assess the efficacy of long term supplementation of porcine diets with natural extract contained verbascoside on meat quality parametersof Longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle in heavy pigs. Methods: Twenty Dalland female pigs were fed a control diet (C) or a diet supplemented with plant extract (PE) (5 mgverbascoside/kg feed) from weaning to slaughter (169,8 kg). The trial was performed in Italy where to obtain high quality cured products pig were slaughter at 9 months of age and 160 kg live weight to provide heavy cuts with excellent meat.The animals fed a corn-based diet that contained the same amount of vitamin E. At slaughter the LD muscle were sampled and physical and chemical parameters were analyzed. The data were analyzed by one way ANOVA with dietary treatment as the main effect. Results: Total losses (drip and cooking loss) (19 % C vs17.8 % PE) and cholesterol content (57.8 mg/100g C vs 51mg/100g PE) resulted lower (P<0.05) in LD muscle of PE group than control. No other chemical or physical parameters were significantly affected by dietary treatment. Conclusion: Long term dietary supplementation with plant extract contained verbascoside positively affect LD meat quality parameters. The data on total losses result interesting from a technological point of view.The reduction of cholesterol content improve the nutritional quality of meat for fresh consumption.