Influence of litter size on growth and structure of m. semitendinosus in newborn piglets and slaughter pigs

Modern meat production has to meet the requirements of profitability, while meeting the demands of consumers in terms of meat quality at the same time. Huge scientific work has been done in order to find balance between quantity and quality of meet. Most authors agree that piglets of lower birth weight have less muscle fibers within muscle, grow slower, compensating the muscle growth with increase of muscle fiber diameter and accumulating carcass fat. In recent years, selection in pig production has been directed towards increase of piglet number per litter. Since the inverse relation of litter size and birth weight has been well documented, the purpose of this work was to investigate the possible effects of litter size as a factor on pig growth and m. semitendinosus characteristics. Except the statistically significant difference (p=0,05) in number of primary fibers among piglets from small litter (15053) and large litter (11347), litter size did not influence birth weight, or other observed morphological and histological characteristics of the muscle significantly. Similarly, results of this research show that litter size as a factor did not affect final weight, morphological characteristics or fiber type distribution within the muscle in slaughter pigs