Signs of individual development of young pigs and their relationship with fattening and meat qualities under the condition of industrial technology of their cultivation
Authors: Zasukha L. V. , Voloshchuk V. M. , Khalak V. I. , Gutyj B. V. , Bordun O. M. 
Published: January 2024

The purpose of this work was to investigate the indicators of individual development of young pigs and their relationship with fattening and meat qualities under the condition of industrial technology of their cultivation, as well as to calculate the economic efficiency of the research results. The experimental part of the work was carried out at Agroprime Holding LLC of the Odesa region, the laboratory of innovative technologies, and experimental livestock facilities of the Institute of Pig Breeding and APV of the National Academy of Sciences. The assessment of animals according to indicators of individual development, fattening, and meat qualities was carried out taking into account the following characteristics: live weight at the time of birth, at 4 and 6 months of age (kg), average daily increase in live weight during the period of control fattening (g); age of reaching live weight of 100 kg, days, length of chilled carcass (cm); length of the bacon half of the cooled carcass (cm); fat thickness at the level of 6–7 thoracic vertebrae (mm). A comprehensive evaluation of young pigs according to individual development indicators was carried out using the index “intensity of formation” and “uniformity of growth”. Biometric processing of research results and calculation of the economic efficiency of research results were carried out according to generally accepted methods. It was established that the young pigs of the 1st experimental group (intrabreed differentiation according to the “formation intensity” index (Δt = 0.9354–1.0871) outperformed the peers of the 3rd experimental group (Δt = 0.5737–0.7077) in terms of average daily live weight gain on 37.6 g (td = 2.87; P < 0.01), age of reaching 100 kg live weight – 5.6 days (td = 3.35; P < 0.01), Tyler B. index – 3.03 points (td = 0.73; P > 0.05). The maximum length of the chilled carcass (97.0 cm) and the minimum thickness of lard at the level of 6–7 thoracic vertebrae (20.5 mm) were found in animals of the III experimental group. The difference between the animals of the experimental groups (intrabreed differentiation according to the “evenness of growth” index) in terms of live weight at birth, at 2 and 4 months of age, average daily live weight gain, age at which live weight is 100 kg, fat thickness at the level of 6–7 thoracic vertebrae and the length of the chilled carcass is 7.20 %. The number of reliable correlations between indicators of live weight at the time of birth, at the age of 2 and 4 months, fattening and meat qualities, the index “intensity of formation” (Δt), “growth intensity” index and Tyler B. index is 71.42 %, which indicates the effectiveness of their use in selection and breeding work. The use of young pigs with the index “intensity of formation” Δt = 0.9354–1.0871 and the index “intensity of growth” Ig = 0.0143–0.0185 provides additional production at the level of +2.65 – +2.20 %, respectively.