Meat quality traits in longissimus lumborum and gluteus medius muscles from immunocastrated and surgically castrated Iberian pigs

This study analyzes quality traits of longissimus lumborum and gluteus medius in surgically castrated (SC) males, inmunocastrated (IC) males and IC female Iberian pigs reared in intensive conditions (n = 18/sex). Vaccination with Improvac® was applied at 18 and 26 weeks of age and slaughtering at 31 weeks. At such conditions, notable sex differences were found. Both muscles of IC males were less red (P IC females > SC males in both muscles. It was concluded that meat quality traits differed between inmunocastrated and surgically castrated male Iberian pigs.This work has been funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 634476 (project acronym TREASURE). The content of this paper reflects only the author's view and the European Union Agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains. We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Candek-Potokar from Agricultural Institute of Slovenia the analysis of androstenone and skatole in backfat samples.Peer Reviewe