Effects of gestation and transition diets, piglet birth weight, and fasting time on depletion of glycogen pools in liver and 3 muscles of newborn piglets.

The experiment was conducted to assess the effects of maternal nutrition in late gestation on glycogen pools of newborn piglets of different birth weights and to assess how rapidly the glycogen pools in the liver and 3 muscles are mobilized during fasting. Until d 108 of gestation, 48 sows were fed a gestation standard diet (GSD) with low dietary fiber (DF, 17.1%), or 1 of 3 diets with high DF (32.

Quantitative trait loci analysis of swine meat quality traits.

A QTL study was performed in large half-sib families to characterize the genetic background of variation in pork quality traits as well as to examine the possibilities of including QTL in a marker-assisted selection scheme. The quality traits included ultimate pH in LM and the semimembranosus, drip loss, and the Minolta color measurements L*, a*, and b* representing meat lightness, redness, and yellowness, respectively. The families consist of 3,883 progenies of 12 Duroc boars that were evaluated to identify the QTL.

Effect of feeding fermentable fibre-rich feedstuffs on meat quality with emphasis on chemical and sensory boar taint in entire male and female pigs.

Skatole, androstenone and other compounds such as indole cause boar taint in entire male pork. However, female pigs also produce skatole and indole. The purpose of this experiment was to minimise boar taint and increase overall impression of sensory quality by feeding entire male and female pigs with fibre-rich feedstuffs.

De electricitatis catholici musculari - Concerning the electrical properties of muscles, with emphasis on meat quality.

This study aims to explore the potential of evoked non-invasive surface electromyography (SEMG) analysis, in predicting meat quality traits in livestock. Evoked SEMG is a system that records, transdermally, electrical signals generated in muscle fibres upon external stimulation. These signals are reported as compound muscle action potentials (CMAP).

Temporal changes in glycogenolytic enzyme mRNAs during myogenesis of primary porcine satellite cells.

The objective was to study the regulation of glycogenolytic enzyme mRNAs in porcine satellite cells during proliferation and differentiation. Beyond 80% confluence, cells were grown in absence or presence of 1μM insulin. The observed increases in abundance of mRNA for glycogenin, glycogen synthase, phosphorylase kinase, phosphorylase and glycogen debranching enzyme, and no alterations of the transporter molecule GLUT4, clearly indicate that glycogenolytic enzymes of potential importance to meat quality development are regulated at the gene level during myogenesis, and are heavily involved in muscle cell and muscle fibre development.