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Nutritional regulation is an effective means to improve pork quality. It was observed that the fermented mixed feed (FMF) is a product of microbial fermentation, which effectively degrades antinutritional factors in feed while producing probiotics and their metabolites. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of FMF on growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality, muscle amino acid and fatty acid composition and mRNA expression levels of genes related to lipid metabolism in finishing pigs.
Methods: 144 finishing pigs (Duroc × Berkshire × Jiaxing Black) were randomly allocated to 3 dietary treatments with 4 replicate pens per group and 12 pigs per pen. The dietary treatments included a basal diet (control), a basal diet + 5% FMF, and a basal diet + 10% FMF. The experiment lasted 38 days after 4 days of acclimation. At the end of the experiment 6 pigs per treatment were selected and slaughtered to collect muscle samples and evaluate the carcass.
Results: The results showed that 5% and 10% FMF significantly increased the average daily gain of the females but not the males, but FMF supplementation showed no impact on carcass traits. Moreover, 10% FMF supplementation increased the meat color45 min and meat color24 h values, while it decreased the shear force relative to the control. In addition, 10% FMF significantly increased the contents of flavor amino acids, total essential AA, total non-EAA, and total AA relative to control. Furthermore, the diet supplemented with 10% FMF significantly increased the concentration of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), n-6 PUFA, and total PUFA, and the PUFA to saturated fatty acids ratio, suggesting that FMF supplementation increased meat quality. Moreover, compared with the control, 10% FMF supplementation increased the mRNA expression of lipogenic genes, including CEBPα, PPARγ, SREBP1, and FABP4, and upregulated the expression of unsaturated fatty acid synthesis (ACAA1 and FADS2).
Conclusion: These results suggest that 10% FMF dietary supplementation improved growth performance and meat quality and altered the profiles of muscle fatty acids and amino acids in finishing pigs.
Liu S, Du M, Tu Y, You W, Chen W, Liu G, Wang Y, Lu Z, Wang T, Shan T. Fermented mixed feed alters growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality and muscle fatty acid and amino acid profiles in finishing pigs. Animal Nutrition. 2023; 12: 87-95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aninu.2022.09.003