ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2017, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (4): 660-668.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2017.04.009

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Effects of Low Protein Level Diets Supplemented with Essential Amino Acids and Cysteamine on Meat Quality and Related Genes Expression of Growing Pigs

ZHU Yu-ping, ZHOU Ping, LI Jiao-long, ZHANG Lin, GAO Feng*, ZHOU Guang-hong   

  1. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Animal Origin Food Production and Safety Guarantee, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Meat Production and Processing, Quality and Safety Control, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
  • Received:2016-07-15 Online:2017-04-23 Published:2017-04-23

Abstract:

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of low protein level diets with essential amino acids and cysteamine (CS) supplementation on the meat quality and related genes expression of growing pigs. A total of 120 barrows ((42.18±0.70) kg) were arranged in a 2×2 factorial arrangement in 4 treatments with 5 replicates of 6 each. The main effects were crude protein levels (16% and 12%) and CS supplemental levels (0 and 100 mg·kg-1). The duration of the experiment was 31 days. The results showed that the low protein level diets supplemented with essential amino acids decreased the shear force value (P<0.05) and increased the intramuscular fat content of Longissimus dorsi (P<0.05). The low protein level diets supplemented with essential amino acids increased mRNA abundance of sterol regulatory element binding protein 1c (SREBP-1c), fatty acid synthase (FAS), stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) and μ-calpain in muscle(P<0.05), decreased the mRNA abundance of hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), carnitine palmitoyl transferase-1 (CPT-1) and calpastatin(P<0.05). CS supplementation decreased the mRNA abundance of calpastatin(P<0.05). No significant interaction effect between dietary protein levels and CS supplementation on the meat quality of growing pigs was observed (P>0.05). The results indicate that low protein level diets supplemented with essential amino acids increase the intramuscular fat content and then improve meat tenderness of Longissimus dorsi in growing pigs, possibly by up-regulating lipogenic genes expression and down-regulating lipolytic genes expression; however, CS supplementation did not show any significant influence on meat quality.

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