Estimation of pork quality in live pigs using biopsied muscle fibre number composition

Abstract

Here, we newly provided the parameters for estimating meat quality in live pigs using the muscle biopsy. The biopsied longissimus thoracis muscle was used to identify the muscle fibre characteristics (MFCs). Of the various MFCs in biopsied muscle, muscle fibre number (MFN) composition showed the greatest correlation with the MFCs in postmortem muscle (P < 0.001). Moreover, the pigs cluster groups, based on the biopsied MFN composition, demonstrated statistically significant differences in meat quality traits such as muscle pH, drip loss, and meat colour (P < 0.05). Therefore, we conclude that the MFN parameters in live pigs are closely related to the postmortem muscle metabolic rate and ultimately with the quality of meat. We suggest that the higher type I and lower type IIB MFN in biopsied muscle will result in better pork quality.