책임운영기관 농촌진흥청 국립축산과학원 (로고)

The aim of this experiment was to investigate the feasibility of using only high concentration of nitrogen gas in stunning of pigs and its effect on quality traits of meat and small intestine. To conduct this experiment, three treatment groups were compared i) T1- Electric stunning, ii) T2 - CO2 (80%) gas stunning and iii) T3 - N2 (98%) gas stunning. 21 standard pigs (Landrace×Yorkshire×Duroc; LYD) were collected from commercial pig farm and randomly selected seven pigs for each group (body weight of 104.5 to 120.6 kg). For stunning, individual pig was kept on gas chamber separately, and after then started specific gas for running to fulfill the desire level in pit. To get up desire level of concentration (N2-98% and CO2-80%) approximately 80 minutes and 35 minutes were required respectively. It was observed that after reached desire level of concentration, pigs were stunned within very short time (in CO2 - 90 seconds and N2 - 120 seconds). For electric stunning, standard quality electric devices were used. After slaughtering, meat & small intestine of each animal was collected separately. After chilling for 24 h at (2°C+-2°C), loin muscles were collected from the left carcasses side and used for the meat quality analyses. In color parameters, L*(Lightness) and b* (yellowness) values of meat and small intestine were high (p<0.05) in T1 & T3 group. T2 group showed high a* (Redness) (p<0.05) values in both meat and small intestine. Proximate composition of meat showed no significant differences except moisture. Water holding capacity (WHC), cooking loss and Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) showed lowest values (p<0.05) in T2 group, but non-significant (p<0.05) from T3. In small intestine, color parameters (L*, a* & b*) and thickness (both of fresh and cooked small intestine) were significant (p<0.05) from each other’s group, but Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) showed no-significant between T2 & T3 group. It is concluded that high concentration of N2 gas (98%) may be consider in stunning of pigs and its effect on meat & small intestine is good.