The effect of feeding system, from the sow to the finishing pig, on the performance and the quality of pork products (ham, dry sausage)

Three types of diet (starch, fibre 1-fat 1 and fibre 2-fat 2), were given to sows in gestation and lactation and they were then distributed to their progeny. The long-term effects of sow diet were also studied by giving a starch diet to pigs produced by the three groups of sows.Feed was isoenergetic and low in protein. The addition of fat to the cellulose-rich diets up to 85 g/kg of feed for finishing pigs (fibre 2-fat 2 diet) produced C18:2 levels of 17.9 and 19.2 g/kg of feed vs. 14.7 g/kg with the starch feed.Results show that both for piglets and growing/finishing pigs there was a trend for better performance with the starch and the fibre 1-fat 1 diets compared to the fibre 2-fat 2 diet. At slaughter the carcass yield was reduced by the fibre/fat diets compared to the starch diet, however, carcass composition was unaffected. The addition of animal fat to the diet increases the unsaturated fatty acid content of pig fat, 10.6, 13.4 and 15.2% C18:2 (starch, fibre 1-fat 1 and fibre 2-fat 2, respectively). This gave cured ham fat and dry sausage an oilier consistence, and the general aspect of the dry sausage was less firm. The susceptibility to oxidation was linearly related to the C18:2 content of dry sausage. A jury of consumers said that they would prefer to buy dry sausage produced from starch fed pigs compared to the other diets.When the starch diet was given to the pigs produced by sows given the three experimental diets growth performance, carcass and fat composition and the sensorial characteristics of the pork products were not different.