Comparison of Duroc and British landrace pigs for meat a and eating quality

Duroc and halothane negative British Landrace boars and gilts were performance tested from 30 to 80kg on ad-libitum or restricted feeding regimes, with like-sexed non-littermate groups of pigs penned together. Meat and eating quality was determined using objective laboratory measurements and by taste panel and consumer panel assessment on 160 pigs with 20 full-sib families for each breed, and two boars and two gilts per family. Duroc M. longissimus(†) was darker in colour, had a more intense, redder colour and contained more fat and less moisture than Landrace muscle. Duroc subcutaneous fat was less firm, had a higher water content and concentrations of linoleic acid and lower concentrations of stearic acid than Landrace fat. The taste and consumer panels scored Duroc meat as being more juicy, but less tender, having poorer flavour and being less acceptable than Landrace meat. The higher juiciness scores of Duroc meat were probably attributable to the higher intramuscular fat content compared to Landrace meat. Duroc boars had lower values for flavour liking and acceptability compared to other breed-sex combinations which may be due to the particular fatty acid composition of the subcutaneous fat in Duroc boars.