Performance of Cinta Senese pigs reared outdoors and indoors. 1. Meat and subcutaneous fat characteristics

The effects of rearing system on tissue composition of a sample joint and on chemical-physical traits of meat and subcutaneous fat were studied in an Italian local pig breed. Forty-six Cinta Senese pigs were used; 17 pigs were reared on wood pasture, 29 pigs were reared in pens and fed commercial mixtures. Weight at slaughter was 136.2 and 127.7 kg for indoor and outdoor-pigs respectively. For sample joint composition outdoor-pigs showed a lower percentage of Longissimus lumborum (L1) (46% vs. 48%) and higher percentages of intermuscular fat (7.2% vs. 4.7%) and bone (20.9% vs. 19.2%). In L1 outdoor-pigs showed higher percentages of intramuscular fat (4.04% vs. 3.29%) and crude protein (23.5% vs. 22.8%), lower drip and cooking losses by oven (0.66% vs. 2.14% and 28.6% vs. 32.3% respectively) and higher cooking loss by water-bath (30.3% vs. 26.6%). Lower values of L* (45.8 vs. 50.1) and higher values of a* (14.9 vs. 11.8) and chroma (15.9 vs. 12.8) were recorded on L1 of outdoor-pigs. Subcutaneous fat of outdoor-pigs showed higher percentages of MUFA (55.1% vs. 53.3%) and PUFA (13.2% vs. 10.4%). Outdoor-pigs had higher PUFA/SFA ratio (0.43 vs. 0.29). (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.