<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The objective of the study was to analyse the effect of breed on characteristics of muscle fibres, parameters of intramuscular connective tissue, collagen content, intramuscular fat (IMF) content and tenderness of <italic>semimembranosus</italic> muscle in pigs. The study was conducted with 16 Złotnicka Spotted (ZS) and 23 Polish Landrace (PL) fattening pigs slaughtered at 210 days of age. The current study showed that compared to the PL breed, the <italic>semimembranosus</italic> muscle from the local breed of ZS pigs was characterized by a greater percentage of type I fibres, a smaller percentage of type IIB fibres and a smaller diameter of all the three muscle fibre types analysed, while the muscles of PL pigs had significantly thinner endomysium and perimysium and a more compact arrangement of collagen fibres, with a significantly lower percentage of collagen in the muscle and a lower content of total and soluble collagen compared to the muscles of ZS pigs. Furthermore, meat from ZS pigs was more tender (lower shear force value) and had a significantly higher IMF content compared to meat from PL pigs.</p></abstract>

The objective of the study was to analyse the effect of breed on characteristics of muscle fibres, parameters of intramuscular connective tissue, collagen content, intramuscular fat (IMF) content and tenderness of semimembranosus muscle in pigs. The study was conducted with 16 Złotnicka Spotted (ZS) and 23 Polish Landrace (PL) fattening pigs slaughtered at 210 days of age. The current study showed that compared to the PL breed, the semimembranosus muscle from the local breed of ZS pigs was characterized by a greater percentage of type I fibres, a smaller percentage of type IIB fibres and a smaller diameter of all the three muscle fibre types analysed, while the muscles of PL pigs had significantly thinner endomysium and perimysium and a more compact arrangement of collagen fibres, with a significantly lower percentage of collagen in the muscle and a lower content of total and soluble collagen compared to the muscles of ZS pigs. Furthermore, meat from ZS pigs was more tender (lower shear force value) and had a significantly higher IMF content compared to meat from PL pigs.

Effect of Breed on Microstructure and Tenderness of Porcine <italic>Semimembranosus</italic> Muscle

Department of Reproduction and Animal Anatomy, Agricultural University of Krakow, Al. Mickiewicza 24/28, 30-059 Kraków, Poland

Annals of Animal Science

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Effect of Breed on Microstructure and Tenderness of Porcine  Muscle

The objective of the study was to analyse the effect of breed on characteristics of muscle fibres, parameters of intramuscular connective tissue, collagen...

Effect of Breed on Microstructure and Tenderness of Porcine Semimembranosus Muscle

Published Online: Jul 29, 2014

Page range: 697 - 705

Received: Sep 30, 2013

Accepted: Mar 03, 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aoas-2014-0025

© 2014 Dorota Wojtysiak

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.