Desempenho produtivo e caraterísticas de carcaça e carne em fêmeas suínas imunocastradas

Abstract

Producing heavier female swine destined for slaughter implies overcoming the challenges of lower feed consumption and loss of growth during estrus periods. The objective of this study was to evaluate the productive performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality in females submitted to different immunocastration protocols. Seventy-two females were used, with an initial live weight of 60.3 kg (± 6.67) and 105 days of age, for ten weeks. The animals were distributed in three treatments: entire-females (EF), immunocastrated females six weeks before slaughter (F6S) and immunocastrated females four weeks before slaughter (F4S). The immunocastration was carried with the application of 2 ml of Vivax® (Zoetis, São Paulo, SP, Brazil), following the protocol of two doses, with an interval of two weeks between dosing. In the first five weeks, there was no difference (P> 0,05) for the average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). In week 6 was an increase (P <0,05) in the ADFI and FCR for the F6S females concerning the other treatments. In the seventh week, there was a tendency (P = 0,054) for greater ADFI in F6S. At weeks 8 and 9, there was an increase (P < 0,05) in the ADFI for F4S females, concerning EF. In the tenth week there were no differences (P>0.05) in performance characteristics between treatments. Considering the total period of 10 weeks, there was an increase (P<0,05) in CRMD and GMD for treatments F6S and F4S, while CA showed no difference (P>0.05) between treatments. No differences were found in carcass characteristics (P> 0,05), however, in meat quality between F6S and EF, the immunocastrated group had a lower shear strength (P <0,05). The female pigs immunocastration with Vivax® six or four weeks before slaughter, increase the productive performance, but not influence the carcass characteristics. In another way, females immunocastrated six weeks before slaughter present meat with more quality.