Meat quality in autochthonous Mediterranean pig breeds reared in organic production systems

Black pig breeds are autochthonous populations present in many Mediterraneancountries, reared on sustainable production systems as they can exploit the feedresources available on the territory. While in Italy the black pig breeds have beenthoroughly studied, in Greece there is still lack of information about theproductive performances of this animal. This is a comparative study aiming atinvestigating on the carcass traits and meat quality features of the autochthonousGreek Black Pig and Italian Apulo-Calabrese black pig reared under organicproduction systems, typical of the rural areas of the two countries, on the qualityparameters, chemical composition and fatty acid pro fi le of the Longissisumlumborum muscle. A total of 40 pigs were used, 20 for each genotype, withineach genotype two sub-groups were made and slaughtered at 9 or 12 months ofage, respectively. When slaughtered at 12 months of age, meat from the Greekpig was brighter and more tender than the Apulo-Calabrese, while the chemicalcomposition from the Italian breed showed a lower protein and intramuscular fatcontent than the Greek one. A higher percentage of Saturated Fatty Acids (SFA),total n-3 and n-6 fatty acids in turn of a lower amount of Mono Unsaturated FattyAcids (MUFA) was found in meat from both the Greek groups. This trial may beconsidered as a fi rst step to evaluate meat characteristics of the autochthonousGreek black pig and, therefore, a tool to increase awareness of this localgenotype and its exploitation.