Untersuchungen zur Schlachtkörper- und Fleischqualität mit Hilfe von MR-Tomographie und MR-Spektroskopie

Abstract. Title of the paper: Studies of carcass and meat quality by means of MR tomography and MR spectroscopy
Magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) is an important diagnostic tool, originally developed for imaging in human medicine. In animal science it has been applied primarily to determine body composition in live animals and in carcasses. Studies in pigs, sheep and waterfowl indicate that quantification of soft tissue by means of prediction equations or by direct measurement of lean and fat volume is highly accurate. So MRT is particularly suitable to analyse growth and development of animals regarding to quality safety in meat production. A precise discrimination between soft tissues enables this technique to serve as a reference for the improvement of Systems used in practical animal breeding and carcass grading. Based on the same principle magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) offers a new possibility to investigate muscle physiology in live animals. The energy metabolism of muscle in pigs with different MHS genotype was studied by means of MRS regarding to an optimum meat quality.