Relationship between pig carcass characteristics measured in live pigs or carcasses with Piglog, Fat-o-Meat’er and computed tomography

• Published in: Livestock science 2017-03, Vol.197, p.88-95
• Main Authors: Lucas, Daniel, Brun, Albert, Gispert, Marina, Carabús, Anna, Soler, Joaquim, Tibau, Joan, Font-i-Furnols, Maria
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Fat thickness; Lean meat percentage; Muscle depth; Reflectance; Ultra-sound; X-rays
• ISSN: 1871-1413; 1878-0490
• DOI: 10.1016/j.livsci.2017.01.010

Lean meat percentage (LMP) and fat and muscle thickness are important carcass quality parameters for both industry and pig farmers. The objectives of this experiment were as follows: (1) to study the relationship between ultrasounds (US) and computed tomography (CT) linear measurements of fat and muscle thickness in live pigs and measurements taken in carcasses at the slaughter plant with reflectance equipment (Fat-O-Meat’er-FOM); (2) to find an equation to estimate the LMP on a farm using the US device in live animals (between 70 and 120kg); and (3) to compare this LMP with those obtained in carcasses with CT, FOM and manual dissection. For this purpose, 155 live pigs from different commercial crosses and sexes were evaluated with the US device (Piglog) and CT, and subsequently, their carcasses were evaluated with FOM and CT and subsample was dissected according to the European Reference Method. Correlations among fat thickness, muscle depth and LMP were high among all devices (between 0.565 and 0.965), and the biases were the lowest between devices in terms of LMP. The prediction of LMP in vivo using Piglog is possible with a prediction error of 2.01%. Thus, it can be concluded that these technologies are suitable for the carcass evaluation of live pigs and carcasses. •Several devices provide different measures of fat and muscle depths.•Lean meat percentage measured in vivo or in carcasses is similar among devices.•Lean meat percentage can be accurately predicted in live pigs with ultrasounds.