The influence of dietary single and blend of organic acids on slaughter parameters and meat quality in finishing pigs

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of a single and blend of organic acids on slaughter parameters and meat quality in finishing pigs with emphasis on their modes of action to improve pig productivity. A total of thirty finishing crossbred (LWY × Desi) pigs (51.74 ± 1.06 kg) were selected and randomly (CRD) allocated to five treatments. The pigs were fed a basal diet (T 1 - control), basal diet containing 1.5% citric acid (T 2 ), 1.5% fumaric acid (T 3 ), 1.5% benzoic acid (T 4 ) and 1.5% blend of citric, fumaric and benzoic acids each @ 0.5% (T 5 ). The experiment lasted for 6 weeks. At the end of the trial period, four pigs from each treatment were slaughtered. Carcass characteristics, organ weights and wholesale cuts were unaltered ( p > 0.05) due to dietary organic acid supplementation. Similarly, the physico chemical properties of fresh meat (WHC, ERV, drip loss, cooking yield, FFA and total cholesterol) revealed non-significant ( p > 0.05) differences among different treatments except for meat pH ( p < 0.05). The meat composition in terms of percent moisture, CP, EE and TA of the meat was unaffected ( p > 0.05) due to the dietary organic acids. Furthermore, the organic acids did not affected sensory evaluation of fresh meat ( p > 0.05). In conclusion, supplementation of organic acids in finishing pigs can be considered as safe and can effectively replace the antibiotics in swine diets without altering the meat composition and meat quality attributes.