Effect of lairage time, behaviour and gender on stress and meat quality parameters in pigs

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of lairage time (short vs. long), behavior (aggressive vs. non-aggressive) and gender (gilts, barrows and boars) on stress and meat quality parameters in pigs (n=100). In the group with short lairage, aggressive behavior of gilts and boars was observed. At exsanguination, blood samples were collected and levels of blood lactate and plasma cortisol were determined. Post mortem pH value, temperature, drip loss, sensory and instrumental color and meat quality class were determined on the muscle Longissimus dorsi. Higher blood lactate concentration (P<0.05) and skin blemish score (P <0.001), lower temperature (P<0.05) and drip loss (P<0.01), as well as darker, less red and yellow meat color (P<0.001) were found after long lairage compared to short lairage. Gilts had higher plasma cortisol concentrations than barrows (P<0.05), while barrows had lower skin blemish scores (P<0.05) than gilts and boars after long lairage. The highest incidence of PSE (pale, soft and exudative) meat was observed in barrows (100.00%) and boars (91.67%) after short lairage, while the lowest incidence of PSE meat was found in barrows (28.89%) after long lairage. Aggressiveness affected meat temperature, as aggressive pigs had higher meat temperature (P<0.05) than non-aggressive pigs.