Carcass characteristics and meat quality traits of crossbred Hampshire pigs fed on wet and boiled diet

Abstract

Thirty six (36) weaned crossbred Hampshire piglets of average 2 months of age were selected for the experiment. The piglets were divided into three homogenous groups where each group consisted 12 piglets each which were allotted to three experimental groups viz., control (reared on standard conventional feed), T1 (reared on standard conventional wet feed water:feed @ the ratio of 1:1.5) and T2 (reared on standard conventional boiled /cooked feed). The standard conventional feed both grower and finisher feed were prepared as per ICAR (2013) recommendation. The study was conducted up to 150 days of age and at the end of the experiment 6 animals from each experimental group were slaughtered to study the effect of feeding wet and boiled feeding on carcass and meat quality traits of pigs. Results showed non-significant (p>0.05) but numerically better pre-slaughter weight, hot carcass weight and dressing percentage in Group T2. Carcass measurements i.e. carcass length, backfat thickness and loin eye area showed no significant difference. In regards to edible and inedible offal revealed non-significant (p>0.05) difference among the experimental groups.