Vet World Vol.16 January-2023 Article-4
Research Article
Veterinary World, 16(1): 27-34
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2023.27-34
Growth performance, meat quality, and blood characteristics of finisher crossbred pigs fed diets supplemented with different levels of green tea (Camellia sinensis) by-products
2. Department of Veterinary Management of Animal Resources, FARAH Center, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Quartier Vallée 2, 4000 Liège, Belgium.
3. Central Lab, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Trau Quy, Gialam, 131000 Hanoi, Vietnam.
Background and Aim: Dietary supplementation with green tea by-product shows special effects on animal parameters. This study aimed to assess the effects of green tea by-products (GTBP) in the diet on some blood parameters, growth performance, and carcass characteristics of finishing pigs and on meat quality, and nutritional composition of pork.
Materials and Methods: One hundred and sixty crossbred pigs with an initial body weight of 65.15 ± 0.38 kg, were distributed into four dietary treatments, with four replicates of 10 pigs each. The dietary treatments were a basal diet (control diet, CON), and three experimental diets (GTBP8, GTBP16, and GTBP24) based on the CON diet supplemented with GTBP at 8, 16, and 24 g/kg of feed. The studied parameters were examined during the experimental period of 10 weeks.
Results: No statistical differences in average daily feed intake, average daily gain, and feed conversion ratio were observed between the diet treatments (p > 0.05). Backfat thickness decreased (linear, p < 0.05) according to the GTBP levels but no other carcass parameters. Meat quality was not influenced by the GTBP levels (p > 0.05). However, pigs fed with GTBP had a decrease in cholesterol content and an increase in crude protein and total omega-3 content of pork compared to the CON diet (p < 0.05). Moreover, dietary supplementation with GTBP significantly decreased plasma cholesterol (p < 0.05), and trends for the decrease in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and urea nitrogen were observed (linear, p = 0.08).
Conclusion: Up to 24 g/kg GTBP in the diet for finishing pigs does not impair animal performance and makes carcass leaner with softer meat as well as positive effects on cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism. Further experiments are needed to determine the optimal levels of GTBP addition in finishing pig diet to produce higher meat quality. Keywords: blood parameter, finishing pigs, green tea, growth performance, meat quality.
Keywords: blood parameter, finishing pigs, green tea, growth performance, meat quality.
How to cite this article: Oanh NC, Thu CTT, Hong NT, Giang NTP, Hornick J-L, and Dang PK (2023) Growth performance, meat quality, and blood characteristics of finisher crossbred pigs fed diets supplemented with different levels of green tea (Camellia sinensis) by-products, Veterinary World, 16(1): 27–34.
Received: 10-10-2022 Accepted: 28-11-2022 Published online: 07-01-2023
Corresponding author: Pham Kim Dang E-mail: pkdang@gmail.com
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2023.27-34
Copyright: Oanh, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.