Effect of castration on productive performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality of Iberian pig females reared under intensive management systems

Sixty crossbred (Iberian dam × Duroc sire) females, 80 days of age (17.6 ± 0.13 kg body weight, BW), was used to investigate the effect of castration on productive performance, carcass and meat quality and fatty acid profile of backfat (BF). There were 2 treatments (intact females, IF; castrated females, CF) and 5 replicates of 6 pigs per treatment. Pigs were reared indoor under an intensive production system, ovariectomized at 92 days of age (26.1 ± 0.19 kg BW) and slaughtered at 267 days of age (143.6 ± 6.49 kg BW). Meat samples were taken at longissimus dorsi muscle at the level of the last rib and BF samples were taken at the tail insertion. For the entire experiment (18 to 144 kg BW), IF ate less feed and were more efficient than CF (P < 0.05). Also, IF had less carcass yield (P < 0.01) and fat thickness at the gluteus medius muscle (P < 0.05) and tended to have lower backfat depth (P < 0.10) than CF. However, IF had higher shoulder yield at 2 and at 24 h post mortem (P < 0.05) and after trimmed (P < 0.10) than CF. The pH24 of the semimembranosus muscle tended to be lower for IF than for CF. Also, IF had more moisture (710 vs. 691 g/kg) and less fat (66.4 vs. 91.2 g/kg) in the longissimus dorsi muscle than CF (P < 0.05). Meat from IF was more lightness (higher L⁎ value; P < 0.01), redder (higher a⁎ value; P < 0.001) and had more intensive color (higher c⁎ value; P < 0.001) than meat from CF. Backfat was more saturated in CF than in IF (P < 0.05), mostly because of the higher palmitic acid (P < 0.05) and the lower linolenic acid (P < 0.05) content. We conclude that intact females have better productive performance and shoulder yield but less carcass yield than castrated females and that castration does not improve meat quality. Therefore, when animal welfare, cost of castration, productive performance and carcass and meat quality traits are considered, the use of intact females rather than castrated females is recommended for the production of Iberian pigs reared under intensive management systems.