Author(s): Kavya A, Devasena B, Suryanarayana MVAN, Kalyana Chakravarthi, Bhaskara Reddy GV and Nagi Reddy G

Abstract: An experiment was conducted to study the effects of a single and blend of organic acids on slaughter parameters and meat quality in finishing pigs with emphasis on their modes of action to improve pig productivity. A total of thirty finishing crossbred (LWY × Desi) pigs (51.74 ± 1.06 kg) were selected and randomly (CRD) allocated to five treatments. The pigs were fed a basal diet (T₁ - control), basal diet containing 1.5% citric acid (T₂), 1.5% fumaric acid (T₃), 1.5% benzoic acid (T₄) and 1.5% blend of citric, fumaric and benzoic acids each @ 0.5% (T₅). The experiment lasted for 6 weeks. At the end of the trial period, four pigs from each treatment were slaughtered. Carcass characteristics, organ weights and wholesale cuts were unaltered (p> 0.05) due to dietary organic acid supplementation. Similarly, the physico chemical properties of fresh meat (WHC, ERV, drip loss, cooking yield, FFA and total cholesterol) revealed non-significant (p> 0.05) differences among different treatments except for meat pH (p< 0.05). The meat composition in terms of percent moisture, CP, EE and TA of the meat was unaffected (p> 0.05) due to the dietary organic acids. Furthermore, the organic acids did not affected sensory evaluation of fresh meat (p> 0.05). In conclusion, supplementation of organic acids in finishing pigs can be considered as safe and can effectively replace the antibiotics in swine diets without altering the meat composition and meat quality attributes.

DOI: 10.33545/26174693.2024.v8.i2Sd.561