Evaluation of Carcass, Organs, and Organoleptic Characteristics of Weaner Pigs Fed Maize-Cob-Meal Diets

Abstract

Twenty-four weaner pigs weighting 8.00±0.25 kg on the average at 56 days of age were used to evaluate the carcass, organs, and organoleptic values of the weaner pigs placed on maize-cob-meal diets. The pigs were randomly divided into four treatment groups each consisting of six pigs. The groups were replicated three times with two pigs per replicate. Four treatment diets were formulated containing 0, 10, 20 and 30% maize-cob-meal diets and assigned to the pigs in a complete randomized design, and water was given ad-labium. At the 9^th week of the experiment, one pig per replicate was selected and slaughtered to evaluate the carcass and organoleptic quality of the pigs. The evaluation indicated that there was no significant difference (p>0.05) among the treatment groups in percent dressed carcass weight, ham and trotters. The head of pigs in the control diet differed significantly in weight (p<0.05) from those fed the 10% diet, however, the pigs fed 20 and 30% diets were similar (p>0.05). The back fat thickness values were similar (p>0.05) between the groups on control, 10% and 20% diets, but differed significantly (p<0.05) from the 30% diet. The organ weights (Livers, spleen, lungs, heart) did not show any significant difference (p>0.05) among the treatments. The parts of the pigs on control and 10% maze-cob-meal diets were found neither appealing nor unappealing, and differed significantly (p<0.05) from those on the 20 and 30% diet, which were scored slightly unappealing and moderately unappealing respectively. The scores for flavor, juiciness, tenderness and overall acceptability followed similar trend. It may therefore be inferred that there was no side effect on carcass and organ characteristics as well as the organoleptic quality of meat from pigs fed maize cob meal diets.