Javier García-Gudiño 1*, Maria Font-i-Furnols 1, Marina Gispert 1, Albert Brun1, Francisco I. Hernández-García2, Mercedes Izquierdo 2, Isabel Blanco-Penedo 3 1 IRTA,
Finca Camps i Armet, Monells, Spain; 2 CICYTEX, Finca La Orden, Guadajira, Spain; 3 SLU, Department of Clinical Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden. *Corresponding author:
[email protected]
INTRODUCTION One alternative to surgical castration of pigs is the immunocastration. Due to the Iberian pig long life cycle (approximately 16 months), the standard immunocastration protocol had to be modified.
OBJECTIVE Evaluate the influence of two immunocastration protocols: pre-pubertal (P) and pre-finishing (F) on the consumers’ acceptability of fresh loin from Iberian pigs.
MATERIAL & METHODS P
n = 10
Immunocastration protocols
F
1
2
3
4
5
n = 10
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Puberty
Thaw = 4ºC 200ºC Internal T = 76ºC 100
%
80
9-point scale
60
(without intermediate level)
100 consumers
40 20 0 Men
Sex
Women
100 80
%
60 40
2 samples/consumer (one of each immunocastration protocol)
20 0 60
Age
RESULTS
Attributes evaluated overall acceptability, tenderness, odor and taste
CONCLUSION PROTOCOL Pre-pubertal
Pre-finished
SE
P-value
Acceptability
6.23
6.24
0.17
0.959
Tenderness
5.89
5.95
0.20
0.818
Odor
6.41
6.53
0.14
0.423
Taste
6.49
6.29
0.16
0.267
In the conditions of the present experiment, no differences were found between the two immunocastration protocols for any of the sensory attributes of fresh loins evaluated by consumers.
The study is part of a national Spanish project entitled “Characterization and efficiency of agroecosystems for a greater sustainability of Iberian pig production”. RTA2013-00063-C03-00. Funded by National Institute for Agriculture and Food Research and Technology (INIA). INIA is also thanked for the scholarship to Javier García-Gudiño. CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya is acknowledged.
