Boar taint is a sensory defect of pork and occurs mainly in pork from non-castrated male pigs. It is predominantly caused by two compounds, skatole and androstenone. Because the elimination of boar taint is critical to consumer acceptance of pork, surgical castration of the young male pig is generally practiced. An emerging new alternative method of boar taint control is vaccination or immunocastration. Studies have demonstrated that pork from boars vaccinated to control boar taint was of the same quality as pork from female or surgically castrated pigs (1). According to Dikeman (2)2, immunocastration showed very good potential for preventing boar taint and improving marbling as well as being able to capitalize on the growth, feed efficiency and carcass leanness of boars. The aim of this study was to compare the meat quality and sensory characteristics of pork loins from immunocastrated boars with loins from surgically castrated boars, non-castrated boars and gilts.
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