WP3. On-farm management strategies: Meat and product quality

Lead KIS (Kmetijski institut SLovenije/Agricultural Institute of Slovenia)

Aims to evaluate the effect of immunocastrate (IC) management (housing conditions, timing of vaccination, diet, breed) on carcass, meat and fat quality. Carcasses and pork from all experiments will be included with an in-depth analysis of subsamples (e.g. pituitary/gonadal suppression on muscle characteristics). Studies on product quality will focus on dry-cured products from IC vs. entire males (EM) and surgical castrates (SC). With IC from various production systems, criteria for post-mortem evaluation of IC efficacy at the slaughter line will also be developed.