Evaluation of Alternative Measures of Pork Carcass Composition

Purdue University 2000 Swine Research Report. Research has been conducted to evaluate effects of experimental treatments, to model pig growth, and to evaluate pork production systems (Schinckel and de Lange, 1996). Alternative endpoints include physical carcass dissection, fat-free or fat-standardized lean mass, mass of trimmed retail cuts, and empty body chemical composition. Carcass composition endpoints should be accurately and economically predicted from easily obtained carcass measurements. The prediction equations should be carefully evaluated for their ability to account for the differences due to genetic population, sex and weight. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the alternative methods of defining pork carcass composition and develop a further understanding of the interrelationships among various pork carcass and empty body composition endpoints.