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Pork is the world’s most consumed animal protein, traditionally priced by lean meat percentage, but consumer preferences are shifting toward fattier, marbled pork due to improved tenderness, juiciness, flavor, and overall acceptability associated with intramuscular fat (IMF). While moderate IMF enhances eating quality, excess fat over 3.5% can lead to rejection. Probiotics have shown promise in pig production by improving gut health, growth, and meat quality, with studies demonstrating that strains like Lactobacillus and multi-species probiotics increase growth rates, carcass traits, and IMF content. Bacillus-based probiotics also improve nutrient digestibility and feed efficiency. However, the specific effects of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens on finishing pigs remain underexplored.
Objective: This study aims to assess how Bacillus amyloliquefaciens affects growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality, and IMF deposition via gene expression in the longissimus dorsi muscle of finishing pigs.
Methods: Thirty-two female Landrace×Duroc pigs, 21 weeks old with initial body weight 77.45±3.29 kg, were divided into two groups: a control group (basal diet) and a probiotic group (basal diet with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens at 1×109 CFU/kg). Body weight and average daily gain were recorded at the start and at fortnight intervals for a 56-d feeding trial. At the end of the experiment, carcass traits, meat quality and intramuscular fat related gene expression of longissimus dorsi muscle were analyzed.
Results: The probiotic group showed higher final body weight and average daily gain, along with increased carcass weight, back fat thickness, and marbling score, without affecting lean meat percentage. Meat quality improved with higher yellowness and lower shear force, while redness and water holding capacity were unaffected. Gene expression related to fat uptake (LPL, CD36, and SLC27A1) was also elevated in the probiotic group.
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the supplementation of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens not only enhanced growth performance and carcass weight in finishing pigs but also improved marbling and tenderness in the longissimus dorsi muscle through the upregulation of lipogenic-genes related to fat accumulation. This indicates its potential as a feed additive to enhance pork quality.
Ndlandla TW, Cheng FY, Huang CW, Yang KT. Effect of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens supplementation on intramuscular fat accumulation and meat quality in finishing pigs. Animal Bioscience. 2024; 38(3): 551. https://doi.org/10.5713/ab.24.0399