Re. Klont et al., EFFECT OF PRESLAUGHTER ANESTHESIA ON MUSCLE METABOLISM AND MEAT QUALITY OF PIGS OF DIFFERENT HALOTHANE GENOTYPES, Journal of animal science, 71(6), 1993, pp. 1477-1485
Pigs of different halothane genotypes were anesthetized 45 min before
slaughter. During the period of anesthesia blood samples and muscle bi
opsy samples were taken to investigate muscle energy metabolism by mea
suring different metabolites. After exsanguination, the same metabolit
es and some meat quality characteristics were determined. Minimal diff
erences in resting muscle metabolism seemed to exist between the halot
hane genotypes. Some significant differences in ante- and postmortem m
etabolism were found, particularly in creatine and lactate concentrati
ons, but these were not reflected in ultimate meat quality. None of th
e pigs showed PSE meat and there were no differences in muscle pH and
temperature at 45 min and 18 h postmortem. However, rigor, drip loss,
and color still showed a significant genotype effect. It was concluded
that due to the method of anesthesia there were no differences in mus
cle metabolism at the moment of slaughter. This may have led to a more
uniform ultimate meat quality between pigs differing in their genetic
susceptibility toward stress. There were differences in color and dri
p loss between the halothane genotypes that cannot be explained by dif
ferences in pH and carcass temperature at 45 min postmortem.