Effect of gender and castration of females and slaughter weight on performance and carcass and meat quality of Iberian pigs reared under intensive management systems

A total of 360 Iberian dam x Duroc sire pigs was used to study the influence of gender and castration of females (CM, castrated males; CF, castrated females; IF, intact females) and slaughter weight (SW: 145 and 156 kg body weight, BW) on performance and carcass and meat quality. Each treatment was replicated four times (15 pigs). Intact females ate less, tended to have better feed conversion and had less carcass fat and more primal cuts yield than CM and CF. Pigs slaughtered at 156 kg BW ate more feed and had worse feed conversion than pigs slaughtered at 145 BW. An increase in SW improved carcass yield, but tended to decrease trimmed ham yield. Intact females are an alternative to castrated females for intensive production of Iberian pigs. Also, the reduction in slaughter weight from 156 to 145 kg BW is recommended for this type of production. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.