Comparative analysis of meat sensory quality, antioxidant status, growth hormone and orexin between Anqingliubai and Yorkshire pigs

ABSTRACT The pig breeds play an important role in post-mortem meat sensory quality. The aim of this study was to analyse the differences of meat sensory quality, antioxidative ability, growth hormone and orexin between Anqingliubai and Yorkshire pigs. Six Anqingliubai and Six Yorkshire pigs (approximately 100？kg？±？1.5？kg) were slaughtered to assess the longissimus dorsi meat sensory quality, antioxidant ability, serum growth hormone and orexin. Results showed that the Anqingliubai pigs exhibited higher pH, a* and intramuscular fat, but lower L* and cooking loss in longissimus dorsi compared with the Yorkshire pigs (P？<？0.05). The malondialdehyde level in the longissimus dorsi muscle of the Anqingliubai pigs was lower than that of Yorkshire pigs. Compared with the Yorkshire pigs, the Anqingliubai pigs exhibited higher superoxide dismutase, catalase and total antioxidant capacity in longissimus dorsi muscle (P？<？0.05). Meanwhile, the Anqingliubai pigs showed lower serum growth hormone, but higher serum orexin compared with the Yorkshire pigs (P？<？0.05). The different meat sensory quality between two pig breeds may be partly caused by different muscle antioxidant ability, intramuscular fat, serum GH and orexin level