Logo image
Intramuscular fat % in the loin of Australian pork demonstrates a stronger relationship with computed tomography lean and fat % than abattoir measures of P2 and lean
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Intramuscular fat % in the loin of Australian pork demonstrates a stronger relationship with computed tomography lean and fat % than abattoir measures of P2 and lean

Fiona Anderson, Maddison T Corlett, Andrew Williams and Graham E Gardner
Journal of animal science, Vol.102, skae331
2024
PMID: 39468749
pdf
Published743.33 kBDownloadView
CC BY-NC-ND V4.0 Open Access

Abstract

Meat Science
Intramuscular fat (IMF) % is an important measure of pork eating quality, with reduced IMF % linked to the selection of pigs with low backfat P2 thickness and more muscular genotypes over several decades. This experiment tested the association of IMF % from the M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum of 345 pigs at 3 abattoirs (sites) with computed tomography (CT) determined carcass composition (% lean or fat), accredited abattoir measures of P2 backfat (mm; Hennessy Grading Probe [HGP], AutoFom III, and PorkScan Lite) and the lean % output from abattoir devices (HGP, AutoFom III, and PorkScan Plus). There was a negative relationship between carcass CT lean % with IMF % at all sites (P < 0.05), with the strength of this relationship varying between sites. The strongest relationship was demonstrated at site 1 (R2 0.30, RMSE 0.59), and across a 4 SD range in the carcass lean % at each site, resulted in a decrease in loin IMF % of 1.56, 0.44, and 0.80. There was a positive relationship of carcass CT fat % with IMF %, with similar, albeit slightly stronger relationship to IMF than with CT lean %. In contrast, only one of the 3 sites with an accredited P2 measurement device demonstrated a significant association (P < 0.05) with IMF %. This is the first time the associations of IMF % with carcass CT composition has been assessed alongside that of P2 backfat measurements from commercially deployed abattoir devices. Given P2 backfat is the key industry measure on which carcass value is determined in Australia, this experiment demonstrates the limitations that P2 has in measuring and monitoring the associations of carcass lean and fat % with IMF. Ideally, an independent measure of IMF % would allow for independent selection for lean % and IMF %; however, there is currently no commercial device that can measure pork IMF %.

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#12 Responsible Consumption & Production

Metrics

4 File views/ downloads
27 Record Views

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Citation topics
3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
3.51 Dairy & Animal Sciences
3.51.206 Meat Quality
Web Of Science research areas
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
ESI research areas
Plant & Animal Science
Logo image