Qualitative characteristics of carcass, meat and subcutaneous fat of commercial heavy pigs raised indoors and outdoors

Importance of the work: Usually, heavy commercial pigs are raised indoors, with limited information available on the meat and fat characteristics in such animals reared outdoors. Objectives: To examine how the farming system (FS; outdoors versus indoors) and sex affect the carcass, meat and lard characteristics in heavy commercial pigs._ Materials and Methods: In total, 24 animals, 10 barrows and 14 gilts (Italian Duroc × TalentTopigs crossed with Landrace × Large White) were reared in two sex-balanced FS groups under a factorial experimental design (with FS and sex as fixed factors). The pigs were slaughtered when they had reached the standard hot carcass weight for heavy-pig production. Meat characteristics were assessed in the longissimus lumborum muscle and the lard was analyzed for its proximate and fatty acid (FA) profile. Results: Rearing pigs outdoors resulted in slower growth than those raised indoors, with a lower percentage of lean carcass mass (48.8% versus 51.1%, respectively; p = 0.05) and a redder meat (3.66 versus 2.19, respectively; p < 0.01) which tended to be tougher (35.9 N versus. 31.2 N, respectively; p = 0.06), due to the lower soluble collagen content (34.0% versus 43.5%, respectively; p = 0.03). However, the lard of the outdoors pigs had a lower saturated FA content than for the indoor-raised pigs (41.13% versus 42.43%, respectively; p = 0.04). Gilts had loins and lard with higher polyunsaturated FA contents than the barrows (20.51% versus 19.11%, respectively; p = 0.01). Main finding: Both sex and FS impacted the nutritional and technological characteristics of carcass, meat and lard of the pigs. Outdoor farming improved the lard nutritional quality but produced firmer, darker meat and a lower carcass yield. The lard analysis provided insights for developing niche markets, underlining the importance of the production method in meat and fat quality.