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Meat color depends largely on pH levels. To improve this, nutritionists and farmers add bioactive compounds and herbal additives to pig diets. Pine needles (Pinus spp.) have strong anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties, making fermented pine needles valuable functional feed additives.
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of fermented pine needles on the carcass traits, meat quality, and antioxidant capacity of finishing pigs.
Methods: In total, 80 Duroc × (Landrace × Large white) crossbred pigs of approximately 4 months of age, with an initial body weight of 60.5 ± 2.5 kg, were randomly assigned to four experimental treatments, 1) control (basal diet), and basal diet supplemented with fermented pine needle at different levels: FR1 (1%), FR2 (2%), and FR3 (3%) for 55 days. Longissimus dorsi muscle samples were collected for meat quality, texture profile, antioxidant enzyme activity, and gene expression.
Results: Compared with the control group, the fermented pine needle treatments increased the lean meat percentage, total antioxidative capacity, and superoxide dismutase activity in the serum and longissimus dorsi muscle. In addition, the treatments increased the mRNA expression levels of SOD1, catalase, and Nrf2 in the muscle and decreased the malondialdehyde activity in the serum and longissimus dorsi muscle and the Keap1 mRNA expression level. Compared with the control and FR1 treatment, the FR2 and FR3 treatments increased springiness, serum GSH-Px activity, and longissimus dorsi muscle CAT activity, and decreased hardness, chewiness, gumminess, and cohesiveness. Moreover, compared with the control treatment and other fermented pine needle treatments, the FR2 treatment showed higher carcass weight, dressing percentage, pH24h, a* value (redness), and marbling scores of the finishing pigs, but also remarkably reduced the L* value (lightness), b* value (yellowness), and shear force in the meat quality.
Conclusion: The addition of fermented pine needles to the diet could improve the tenderness and freshness of the meat, as evidenced by the modified antioxidant enzyme activity and mRNA expression levels of antioxidant genes in the muscles of finishing pigs, without affecting performance.
Ma W, Ma Z, Mao P, Zhang X, Wu X, Gao M, Wu Q. Effects of Feed Supplemented with Fermented Pine Needles (Pinus ponderosa) on Carcass Quality, Meat Quality, and Antioxidant Capacity of Growing-Finishing Pigs. Foods. 2025; 14(12), 2046. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14122046