Animal Science Abstract
Quantitative study of the alpha and gamma -tocopherols accumulation in muscle and backfat from Iberian pigs kept free-range as affected by time of free-range feeding or weight gain
A.I. Rey1,A, A. Daza2, C. López-Carrasco3 and C.J. López-Bote1
AE-mail: Anarey@vet.ucm.es
1Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain2Departamento de Producción Animal, Escuela de Ingenieros Agrónomos, Universidad Politécnica Madrid, Spain
3Centro de Investigaciones Agropecuarias ‘Dehesón del Encinar’. Junta de Comunidades de Castilla la Mancha, Oropesa, Toledo, Spain
Abstract
The experiment was undertaken to quantify the alpha and gamma-tocopherols accumulation in muscle and backfat from Iberian pigs given food free-range as affected by the time of free-range feeding or the weight gained during the fattening in free-range. Pigs were given their food in a free-range production system with pasture and acorns (Quercus rotundifolia) for different periods of time: 46 days (free-range 3), 83 days (free-range 2) and 111 days (free-range 1). A control was given food free-range for 0 days. In addition another experiment was developed to determinate the effect of the the weight gained on the tocopherols accumulation at a similar period of time (111 days) given food free-range: one group gained 68.7 kg of weight (free-range A) and the other 43.6 kg (free-range B). The concentration of gamma -tocopherol significantly (P<0.0001) increased after 83 days of feeding in the longissimus dorsi (LD) and biceps femoris (BF) muscles, and after 111 days in the inner and outer backfat layers. The concentration of alpha-tocopherol was not statistically affected by the days of free-range feeding in any case. Iberian pigs that put on more weight had significantly (P<0.0001) higher concentration of alpha and gamma -tocopherols in the inner and outer backfat layers, and alpha -tocopherol in the BF muscle than those given food free-range B. However, no differences were detected in the proportion of alpah -tocopherol in the LD and gamma -tocopherol in the LD and BF. The gamma -tocopherol content of LD and BF muscles depending on the days of feeding were adjusted to linear and quadratic regressions (R2= 0.8705 and 0.8697, respectively), while the outer and inner backfat layers were linear equations (R2= 0.8480 and 0.8119, respectively). However, the gamma -tocopherol concentration as affected by the weight gained in free-range showed in all tissues a linear and a quadratic trend that were adjusted to exponential responses. The alpah -tocopherol content was affected by the gamma -tocopherol concentration in muscle and outer backfat layer. The tocopherol concentration (alpha and gamma -tocopherols) in the backfat layers may discriminate better between the pigs of high quality that were given food free-range for a long period of time and those that stayed an intermediate period. However, to discriminate between the pigs on formulated food and those given food free-range, the quantification of the gamma -tocopherol concentration in muscle could be a better indicator.
Keywords: free-range husbandry, live-weight gain, pigs, tocopherols
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