Effect of dietary inclusion of antioxidants and organic trace minerals on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and meat quality of finishing pigs with pre-slaughter transportation

A total of 320 pigs (body weight = 98 +/- 4 kg) were assigned to four treatments, with eight replicates (pens) per treatment. Pigs were fed the following diets: a control diet (CON), the CON diet plus antioxidant blends (AOX), organic trace minerals (OTM), or both (AOX + OTM). After the feeding trial, two pigs from each pen were selected for slaughtering right away or after transportation. The inclusion of AOX, OTM, or AOX + OTM had no significant effect on feed intake, average daily gain, and feed efficiency compared with CON (P> 0.05). The pre-transportation significantly reduced the pH value of loin meat at 24 h post mortem and leg meat at 45 min post mortem (P < 0.05). The pigs in the AOX, OTM, and AOX + OTM group had significantly lower plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) content than the CON group (P < 0.05). Pre-transportation resulted in significantly higher meat MDA contents (P < 0.05), clearly influencing the oxidative stress of pigs. The inclusion of antioxidant blends or organic trace minerals had no significant effect on the growth performance and antioxidant capacity of finishing pigs.