Indian Journal of Animal Research

Objective of this paper was to evaluate phenotypic variability of carcass side and pork quality traits of fatteners (male castrated and female heads). Investigation included 12 pigs per group of Mangalitsa (Genotype 1), Moravka (Genotype 2), cross-breed Mangalitsa with Moravka (Genotype 3) and cross-breed Moravka with Duroc boar (Genotype 4). Results show that Mangalitsa had lower daily gain (268 g) than other genotypes (p<0.001). The greatest difference for fat thickness was determined between Genotype 1 and Genotype 4. As expected, the thinnest fat and maximum value for gain and depth of Musculus longissimus (ML) had the Genotype 4. The highest value for the ML surface was found in Genotype 4(47.52 cm²) whereas for the same trait in Mangalitsa the lowest value was observed (24.16 cm²). Mangalitsa had significantly lower L*, a* and b* values of ML compared with all other groups (p<0.001). Considering the low production performance of indigenous pig breeds, crossbreeding with the Duroc breed will contribute a improvement of growth and carcass traits.