Sensory emphasis on pork quality related to the diet content of fermentable fibre-rich feedstuffs (chicory and lupine) with special emphasis on the effect on boar taint

Summary

Boar taint in entire male pork is caused by skatole and andros-tenone and other compounds such as indole. However, female pigs also pro-duce skatole and indole. The purpose was to minimise boar taint related to skatole by feeding entire male and female pigs with fibre-rich feedstuffs. An organic, 10% dried chicory or 25% lupine diet was applied for either 7 or 14 days before slaughter. Lupines significantly reduced skatole in backfat for both genders whilst chicory showed no significant differences in this re-spect. From a sensory perspective, chicory and lupine reduced boar taint since odour and flavour of manure related to skatole and urine associated to androstenone were minimised. The level of boar taint in the entire male pigs was mainly reduced after 14 days by both chicory and lupine while the “boar” taint in female pigs was mainly reduced by lupine.