Studies on meat color, myoglobin content, enzyme activities, and genes associated with oxidative potential of pigs slaughtered at different growth stages.

Objective: This experiment investigated meat color, myoglobin content, enzyme activities, and expression of genes associated with oxidative potential of pigs slaughtered at different growth stages.

Methods: Sixty 4-week-old Duroc×Landrace×Yorkshire pigs were assigned to 6 replicate groups, each containing 10 pigs. One pig from each group was sacrificed at day 35, 63, 98, and 161 to isolate longissimus dorsi and triceps muscles.

Effects of a traditional Chinese medicine formula and its extraction on muscle fiber characteristics in finishing pigs, porcine cell proliferation and isoforms of myosin heavy chain gene expression in myocytes.

Objective: This study evaluated the effects of a traditional Chinese medicine formula (TCMF) on muscle fiber characteristics in finishing pigs and the effects of the formula's extract (distilled water, ethyl acetate and petroleum ether extraction) on porcine cell proliferation and isoforms of myosin heavy chain (MyHC) gene expression in myocytes.

Methods: In a completely randomized design, ninety pigs were assigned to three diets with five replications per treatment and six pigs per pen. The diets included the basal diet (control group), TCMF1 (basal diet+2.