The influence of sunflower meal in feed on slaughter and meat quality of pigs
Authors: Kuzmenko L. M. , Shostya A. M. , Usenko S. O. , Polishuk A. A. , Ilchenko M. O. , Shaferivskyi B. S. 
Published: May 2024

Currently, the problem of providing protein nutrition for animals and reducing the cost of pork production is relevant. The choice of effective and, at the same time, cheap protein components for animal rations is one of the foundations of high-performance animal husbandry. The purpose of the work was to determine the effectiveness of using compound feed with the introduction of sunflower meal of increased feed value and a different structure of the grain group on the slaughter and meat quality of pigs. Our research has proven the preservation of the level of productivity of pigs and obtaining a sufficiently high level of profitability of pork production when feeding compound feed based on barley and sunflower meal of increased feed value with or without wheat. In the control group, which received barley-corn-wheat compound feed, the average daily gains during the scientific and economic experiment amounted to 683 g. The maximum deviation in the experimental groups was +2.8 %. The difference was statistically improbable. At the same time, a slight increase in feed consumption per 1 kg of growth was observed in the experimental group, which was fed combined feed based on barley and sunflower meal. A tendency to increase the slaughter yield of piglets of the research groups and a probable increase in the meat yield from the carcass in animals whose combined feed was injected with 15 % by mass of sunflower meal of increased fodder value was noted. Feeding young pigs with two-component combined feed with barley grit + 15 % sunflower meal of increased forage value contributes to a decrease in lard thickness by 2.5 %. The longest back muscle of these animals is characterized by a 1.0% higher content of adipose tissue, an 8.3 % intensity of muscle fiber staining, as well as a 6.1 % lower caloric content, an amount of calcium (P ≤ 0.05), active acidity (P < 0.01). At the same time, a tendency to a slight increase in the moisture content of lard by 0.9 % and a decrease in the melting temperature of lard by 1.5 °C was noted. The research results on the chemical composition of animal meat during the transition to low-component compound feed indicate that the dry matter content was practically at the same level. Protein was found the most in the meat of the second group of guinea pigs (20.64 %), which is 0.76 % higher than the control analogs. At the same time, the fat content in muscle tissue samples decreased in the second and third groups relative to the control by 0.17 % and 0.70 %, respectively. Specific changes in the chemical composition of animal meat in the third experimental group, compared to the control group, resulted in a 6.5 % decrease in its caloric content, coinciding with recent trends regarding the production of leaner pork. When switching to low-component compound feed with sunflower meal of increased fodder value, there is a tendency to an inevitable increase in losses during the culinary processing of pig meat, with a simultaneous decrease in its tenderness. The change in these indicators occurred due to the reduction in the moisture-retaining capacity of muscle tissue in the second and third experimental groups.