Survey of Demographic and Phenotypic Data of Local Pig Breeds of Treasure Project

Local genetic resources represent an important reservoir of biodiversity in the animal sector. Sustainable use of these resources can be an important source of income for farmers taking advantage of the peculiar characteristics of their products

Local pig breeds: Nutritional requirements, innovative practices and local feeding resources as challenges in project TREASURE

TREASURE is a research and innovation project of European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme which is devoted to traditional genetic resources in pig production with aim to improve their potentials for enhanced use. Studying and improving management of local pig breeds in their production systems is one of the challenges in which we address their performances and nutrition with special attention on locally available feeding resources and innovative practices aiming to improved welfare. For that purpose 15 experiments on 12 breeds were designed in the project, which are hereafter shortly presented. Their concepts and main objectives with some highlights on already available results are described. © 2017, University of Zagreb. All rights reserved

Prediction of fatty acid composition in intact and minced fat of European autochthonous pigs breeds by near infrared spectroscopy

The fatty acids profile has been playing a decisive role in recent years, thanks to technological, sensory and health demands from producers and consumers. The application of NIRS technique on fat tissues, could lead to more efficient, practical, and economical in the quality control. The study aim was to assess the accuracy of Fourier Transformed Near Infrared Spectroscopy technique to determine fatty acids composition in fat of 12 European local pig breeds. A total of 439 spectra of backfat were collected both in intact and minced tissue and then were analyzed using gas chromatographic analysis. Predictive equations were developed using the 80% of samples for the calibration, followed by full cross validation, and the remaining 20% for the external validation test. NIRS analysis of minced samples allowed a better response for fatty acid families, n6 PUFA, it is promising both for n3 PUFA quantification and for the screening (high, low value) of the major fatty acids. Intact fat prediction, although with a lower predictive ability, seems suitable for PUFA and n6 PUFA while for other families allows only a discrimination between high and low values.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Survey of demographic and phenotypic data of local pig breeds of TREASURE project

The paper reports the results of a survey on the demographic and phenotypic characterization of 20 European local pig breeds involved in the H2020 TREASURE project including information on: demographic parameters, main morphological features, reproductive information, additional information collected at herd-level (i.e. temperament, holding, mating practices), origins and development of the breeds. Almost all the breeds (18 out of 20) possess a herd book even if the starting year is highly variable (from 1980 to 2006). Number of breeding females ranged from 24 (Moravka) to over 200,000 heads (Ibérico). Male/female ratio varied greatly with the highest values for the Italian breeds probably due to the different policy of animal recording. Almost all the breeds undergo a conservation program whereas really few are interested by other conservation techniques and for less than five breeds data related to effective number and inbreeding coefficient are easily available. Average values for teat number, litter size and weaned piglets are 12, 8 and 6 respectively with a great potential for their improvement. The depicted scenario is highly diversified and the data collected represent the starting point for the achievement of a collective trademark under the umbrella of the TREASURE project

Boîte à outils pour l'évaluation des qualités des carcasses et des dimensions sensorielles, nutritionnelles et technologiques des viandes et produits transformés de porc: Application aux produits issus de races locales

International audienceThe quality of pig carcasses, meat and pork products is reflected by different dimensions: economic (commercial value), technological (processing ability), sensory (appearance, texture, flavour, etc.) and nutritional (nutrient supply meeting human nutritional requirements). Each of these dimensions is described by several indicators, evaluated by different methods (physical, biochemical, etc.). One objective of the TREASURE project was to characterise the intrinsic quality of traditional pork products from diverse European local pig breeds and production systems. To harmonise the evaluation of quality within the project, a single tool based on common indicators and methods for quality assessment was developed. A "toolbox" for quality was established considering, for each main product (carcass, subcutaneous fat, fresh loin, green ham, dry ham, other dry products), the main quality dimensions (economic, technological, sensory, nutritional, etc.) and within each, the individual indicators (e.g. backfat thickness, intramuscular fat content, TBARs level, pH 24 h, colour parameters (L* a* b*), sensory tenderness, processing yield, NaCl content, etc. leading to a total of about 80 indicators) along with assessment of the method. The inventory of quality dimensions and indicators was drawn from our expertise, the scientific literature, and the Animal Trait Ontology for Livestock (ATOL) database. Measurement methods were chosen based on our expertise and the literature, including a recent "Handbook of reference methods for meat quality assessment" produced within the FAIM COST action. This "Pork Quality" toolbox is a generic tool that can help stakeholders from a variety of pork chains evaluate the quality of pork and pork products

Effect of natural antioxidants from grape seed and chestnut in combination with hydroxytyrosol, as sodium nitrite substitutes in Cinta Senese dry-fermented sausages

Dry-fermented pork sausages, from Cinta Senese local breed, were manufactured replacing sodium nitrite (NIT) with two mixtures of natural antioxidants consisting of: i) grape seed extract and olive pomace hydroxytyrosol (GSE); ii) chestnut extract and olive pomace hydroxytyrosol (CHE). The effects on physical-chemical, aromatic and sensory traits, as well as the microbiological safety, were tested. Nitrite replacement lowered the pH in GSE and CHE samples and resulted in several differences in physical traits between CHE and NIT samples. Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Clostridium botulinum were not found in any samples. GSE and CHE mixtures showed a slightly lower antioxidant activity. Volatile profile showed a similar aromatic profile among the three treatments with differences mainly to abundance of the single compounds, indicating that replacement of nitrite by natural antioxidants did not affect the overall aroma profile, as outlined by olfactometry results. In addition, the replacement did not affect the overall acceptability, except for color-related traits, underscored in GSE and CHE products.The research was carried out with funds from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 634476 (acronym TREASURE). Authors also acknowledge the financial support of AGL2015–64673-R (MINEICO, Spain) and FEDER funds.Peer reviewe