Suitability of three commercially produced pig breeds in Germany for a meat quality program with emphasis on drip loss and eating quality

This study aimed at characterising 606 crossbred pigs of three commercially available breed types in terms of their carcass and meat quality. Breed G and H were German Large White (LW) × German Landrace (LR) sows sired with Pietrain (PI) boars, i.e. PI × (LW × LR). Breed S was 25% Duroc (DU), i.e. PI × (DU × LR). Most of the parameters were affected by breed and/or date of slaughter. The meat of crossbred pigs with 25% Duroc proportion appeared most favourable because of higher intramuscular fat content, lower drip loss and higher sensory liking scores. Conductivity is closely related to drip loss while the data suggests that the relationship is dependent on breed and carcass weight. The application of conductivity and lean meat yield thresholds to select carcasses with uniform and superior meat quality effectively decreased drip loss and increased intramuscular fat content as well as sensory liking scores. The variation of meat quality traits remains high, though.