Determination of the Carcass Characteristics of Breeding Pigs in Côte D'ivoire

Abstract— The purpose of this study is to determine the characteristics of the carcass of pigs reared in the south of Côte d'Ivoire. The work involved 320 pigs from pig farms in the district of Abidjan and around Abidjan, and a few pig farms in the provinces of Côte d'Ivoire. The animals are left on fasting in the SIVAC slaughterhouse park on the eve of slaughter. On the day of slaughter, the animals are weighed on the ground and after slaughter; the pigs are gutted, split before the carcass weight is determined. The lean meat content of the carcasses is determined by the manual method, using the grading slider ZweiPunkt (ZP), and then the carcasses are classified according to the EUROP grid. The study reveals that the pigs slaughtered at the SIVAC slaughterhouse have an average live weight of 89.1 ± 13.6 kg. The average carcass weight is 66.5 ± 11.2 kg and the average carcass efficiency is 74.71 ± 4.5 %. Most pig’s carcasses are in class E where the estimated lean meat content is greater than or equal to 55%. Female pigs are predominantly less fatty than castrated male pigs, with estimated lean meat content greater than or equal to 55 %. These results confirm that the pigs reared in Côte d'Ivoire are less fat and partially meet the nutritional needs of the population