Production de viandes de Porcs mâles entiers ou castrés : efficacité alimentaire et composition corporelle chez les races hypermusclées

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Abstract
Castration effects in male pigs from Pietrain and Belgian Landrace were compared in pure breeds to study the applied selection. In comparison with the controls, i.e., entire males from each breed, the main experimental results after castration were as follows: overconsumption of feed (18%) in the Pietrain breed, whose appetite was the lowest; reduced feed efficiency (17%) in Belgian Landrace, whose growth rate was the highest; and increased carcass fatness in Pietrain, the leanest type, whose growth rate was the lowest. For a light slaughter wt (90 kg), carcass muscle content was reduced by 7% in the 2 types of pigs. At a heavy slaughter wt (100-110 kg), the muscle content was markedly reduced by 10.5% in Pietrain, the leanest type. Defective muscle qualities were more frequent in the Pietrain breed. Very low values of muscle ultimate pH (24 h after slaughter) were already registered 45 min post mortem in 78% Pietrain and 43% Belgian Landrace. In both breeds, similar scores for muscle defects were recorded in entire or castrated males. The knowledge of relationships between tissue development and sexual precocity in males of females enable various optimal conditions at different slaughter weights to be defined. Castration of males decreased and sometimes suppressed at heavy salughter weight, the meat differences which results from the boar selection. Defective muscle qualities persisted in each breed after castration of the male. These defects might be correlated with abnormal odors of fatty tissues which affects boar meat according to steroid storage levels.