Genetic relationship of drip loss to further meat quality traits in purebred Piétrains
Abstract. Drip loss is an important quality criterion for the meat processing industry and also the consumer. Therefore this characteristic is discussed as a target trait for breeding schemes. In this study the EZ-DripLoss method was implemented in a routine testing procedure to determine drip loss regularly at 48 hours post mortem. As further meat quality traits conductivity and meat brightness were recorded at 24 hours post mortem. Additionally, pH value was measured at 45 minutes post mortem in the loin muscle and at 24 hours post mortem in the loin and in the ham. Reflectance was adopted from the FOM-protocol of the abattoir. For the estimation of the genetic parameters the determined percentage drip losses were logarithmicly transformed to get nearly normal distributed values. In total data of 2337 purebred Piétrains were analysed from which 782 were investigated on drip loss. Heritability of drip loss was 0.34±0,04 and decreased on 0.14±0,04 when the influence of the MHSgene was corrected. Genetic correlation of drip loss to pH45 was rg = −0.91±0.03, to pH24 (loin) rg = −0.72±0.04, to pH24 (ham) rg = −0.41±0.06, to conductivity rg = 0.93±0.02, to meat brightness rg = −0.87±0.03, and to reflectance rg = 0.63±0.07. Considering MHS-genotype the corresponding correlations were rg = −0.66±0.11, rg = −0.72±0.09, rg = −0.50±0.10, rg = 0.74±0.09, rg = −0.64±0.11, and rg = 0.13±0.13.
