Triticale diets and pork quality in the zone of radioactive contamination

The study is devoted to the substantiation of the use of grain mixtures with different amounts of triticale in the diets of store pigs of large white breeds and to determine their impact on the quality and safety of pig products during its production in III zone of radioactive contamination caused by the Chernobyl accident. Based on the study, fodder grain mixtures for fattening of store pigs in Ukrainian Polissia have been developed. These mixtures make it possible to replace partially or entirely wheat with triticale in the diets of animals. It has been found that when 20-40% (by weight) of wheat groats in the grain mixture is replaced with a similar amount of triticale groats, the concentration of radiocaesium in muscle tissue of pigs in the experimental groups reduces by 9.6-9.8 Bq/kg or 30.7-31.3% compared to the control group. At the same time, the multiplicity of accumulation of 137Cs in the musculus longissimus dorsi of piglets was 0.233-0.325 and was higher by 4.2-39.5% in animals which received grain mixture No. 1 without triticale, compared with the use of grain mixtures No. 2 and No. 3 (20-40 % of triticale by weight). The concentration of Pb, Cu, and Zn in the products of experimental store pigs was significantly lower than MAC, while the level of contamination of muscle tissue (groups I and II) and liver (groups I and III) with Cd exceeded the regulatory requirements by 2.0-2.4 times and by 24.7-28.7%, respectively. Replacement of 20-40% (by weight) of wheat groats in the grain mixture with a similar amount of triticale groats for fattening store pigs in III zone of radioactive contamination contributed to a much smaller transition of Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn into musculus longissimus dorsi – by 3.27 (group III), 0.55-8.96, 1.15-1.27 and 0.52-7.86% absolute), respectively.