EFFECT OF PORCINE SOMATOTROPIN .2. CARCASS COMPOSITION AND MEAT QUALITY

Treatment with porcine somatotropin (PST) markedly improved carcass quality, mainly due to an increase in meat percentage (117 %) at the expense of fat content (61 %). Rising PST doses led to a further marked reduction in fat content, whereas meat and bone contents were not adequately affected. Meat quality was not deteriorated by PST application. No evidence has so far been supplied of the optimum PST dosage. The percentage of unsaturated fatty acids, particularly that of essential linoleic acid C 18:2, rises, which is associated with a lower backfat thickness and a softer consistency. In the period from PST withdrawal until slaughtering compensatory growth was not observed.