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Strategies to Meet Nutritional Requirements and Reduce Boar Taint in Meat from Entire Male Pigs and Immunocastrates
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2020-10-23
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Bee, G.; Quiniou, N.; Maribo, H.; Zamaratskaia, G.; Lawlor, P.G. Strategies to Meet Nutritional Requirements and Reduce Boar Taint in Meat from Entire Male Pigs and Immunocastrates. Animals 2020, 10, 1950. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10111950
Abstract
This paper reviews the current knowledge on the nutritional requirements of entire male
and immunocastrated pigs to obtain an efficient growth, low boar taint level, and good carcass
and meat quality. We present the reasons for offering entire males ad libitum access to the diets
in order to optimize their protein deposition potential. Boar taint is one of the major issues in
the production of entire males; therefore, the impact of various skatole- and indole-reducing feed
ingredients is discussed regarding their efficiency and the possible mechanism affecting skatole and
indole production in the hindgut. Entire males have lean carcasses, so their intramuscular fat content
can be lower than that of surgical castrates or females and the adipose tissue can be highly unsaturated.
The possible nutritional strategies to counteract these effects are summarized. We conclude that
immunocastrates can be fed similarly to entire males until the second vaccination. However, due to
the metabolic changes occurring shortly after the second vaccination, the requirements for essential
amino acids are markedly lower in immunocastrates than in entire males.