Influence of housing conditions on performance and meat quality in pigs. 1. Growth performance and carcass composition

An experiment involving a total of 240 pigs was conducted to determine the effects of housing conditions, ambient temperature and feeding level on growth performance and carcass composition of finishing pigs.Twenty-four castrated males and twenty-four females were allocated to one of five groups. Three groups were reared in an environmentally controlled building on a slatted floor at an ambient temperature of 17°C (two groups) and 24°C (one group).The other two groups were reared in an open fronted building (semi-outdoor housing) to assess the effect of season (winter vs summer). All the animals were fed ad libitum except for the group reared at 17°C in an environmentally controlled building, these animals were pair-fed with the group at 24°C.Indoor ad libitum fed pigs grew faster (+5 % ; P < 0.001) at 17 °C than at 24 °C, whereas feed conversion ratio (FCR) was similar (2.56 vs 2.60). However, at a similar feeding level, growth rate was reduced by 7 % whereas FCR was increased by 8 % (P < 0.01) at 17 °C compared to 24 °C. Semi-outdoor housing resulted in higher (P < 0.01) growth rates (+ 8 %), feed intake (+ 14 %) and FCR (+ 7 %) in the winter than in the summer. Furthermore, for a similar level of feed intake, growth rate was lower (P < 0.001) and FCR was higher (P < 0.01) in semi-outdoor reared pigs (winter) compared to pigs from a controlled environment (17°C).Carcass yield was higher at high ambient temperature. However, muscle percentage was not affected by treatment. Reducing the feed intake of pigs reared at 17 °C resulted in leaner carcasses.