The effect of gender and breed on some properties of pig meat

This study was conducted to investigate differences in characteristics of muscles from male and female fatteners from Mangalitsa and Swedish Landrace pig breed. The research was carried out on three muscles: m. longissimus thoracis et lumborum, m. gluteus medius and m. triceps brachii. Compared to the Swedish Landrace, it was found out that the meat of the Mangalitsa had considerably higher intramuscular fat content (p<0.05). The highest intramuscular fat content was determined in male fatteners of Mangalitsa in m. gluteus medius (6.81%) and the lowest in female fatteners of Landrace pig breed in the longissimus muscle (1.12%). As for technological quality of meat, after cooking, meat from Mangalitsa pig had greater cooking weight loss compared to Landrace and also lower shear force (SF) values for longissimus, but higher SF values for gluteus muscle. Gender had no statistically significant effect on technological meat quality. It can be concluded, on the base of the results, that the Mangalitsa pig, had favourable meat quality traits, which are very desired for production of traditional meat products of high quality.