<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><sec id="j_jvetres-2020-0080_s_005_w2aab3b7c52b1b6b1aab1c14b1Aa"><h3>Introduction</h3><p>An effective way of preventing undesirable boar taint in pork meat caused by the presence of androstenone, skatole and indole is surgical castration of piglets. This, however, arouses growing social opposition. An alternative method of inhibiting the development of unpleasant odour is immune castration. The aim of the study was to compare the effectiveness of both methods of castration for the elimination of the compounds responsible and to assess the suitability of oral fluid for pre-slaughter predictive testing for boar taint.</p></sec><sec id="j_jvetres-2020-0080_s_006_w2aab3b7c52b1b6b1aab1c14b2Aa"><h3>Material and Methods</h3><p>The research material was pooled oral fluid and fat samples taken from gilts and surgically and immunologically castrated piglets. The samples were tested with a liquid chromatography– tandem mass spectrometry method developed in this research.</p></sec><sec id="j_jvetres-2020-0080_s_007_w2aab3b7c52b1b6b1aab1c14b3Aa"><h3>Results</h3><p>The compounds giving rise to boar taint were found only sporadically above the accepted limits; only one sample of oral fluid contained skatole at a concentration above 200 μg L<sup>−1</sup> and one contained indole more concentrated than 100 μg L<sup>−1</sup>. Indole above the limit value was also detected in one fat sample. In none of the tested samples was androstenone found.</p></sec><sec id="j_jvetres-2020-0080_s_008_w2aab3b7c52b1b6b1aab1c14b4Aa"><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>The results indicate the similar effectiveness of both methods of piglet castration on the reduction of compounds generating boar taint. The usefulness of testing oral fluid for the ante-mortem prediction of boar taint has not been fully confirmed and further investigation is needed.</p></sec></abstract>

IntroductionAn effective way of preventing undesirable boar taint in pork meat caused by the presence of androstenone, skatole and indole is surgical castration of piglets. This, however, arouses growing social opposition. An alternative method of inhibiting the development of unpleasant odour is immune castration. The aim of the study was to compare the effectiveness of both methods of castration for the elimination of the compounds responsible and to assess the suitability of oral fluid for pre-slaughter predictive testing for boar taint.Material and MethodsThe research material was pooled oral fluid and fat samples taken from gilts and surgically and immunologically castrated piglets. The samples were tested with a liquid chromatography– tandem mass spectrometry method developed in this research.ResultsThe compounds giving rise to boar taint were found only sporadically above the accepted limits; only one sample of oral fluid contained skatole at a concentration above 200 μg L−1 and one contained indole more concentrated than 100 μg L−1. Indole above the limit value was also detected in one fat sample. In none of the tested samples was androstenone found.ConclusionThe results indicate the similar effectiveness of both methods of piglet castration on the reduction of compounds generating boar taint. The usefulness of testing oral fluid for the ante-mortem prediction of boar taint has not been fully confirmed and further investigation is needed.

Evaluation of the effect of surgical and immunological castration of male pigs on boar taint compounds in oral fluid and fat tissue by LC-MS/MS method

Journal of Veterinary Research

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

IntroductionAn effective way of preventing undesirable boar taint in pork meat caused by the presence of androstenone, skatole and indole is surgical...

Evaluation of the effect of surgical and immunological castration of male pigs on boar taint compounds in oral fluid and fat tissue by LC-MS/MS method

Published Online: Dec 10, 2020

Page range: 557 - 565

Received: May 29, 2020

Accepted: Nov 23, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jvetres-2020-0080

Keywords
boars, oral fluid, fat, boar taint, liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

© 2020 B. Woźniak et al. published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Evaluation of the effect of surgical and immunological castration of male pigs on boar taint compounds in oral fluid and fat tissue by LC-MS/MS method

Published Online: Dec 10, 2020

Page range: 557 - 565

Received: May 29, 2020

Accepted: Nov 23, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jvetres-2020-0080

Keywordsboars, oral fluid, fat, boar taint, liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

© 2020 B. Woźniak et al. published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
boars, oral fluid, fat, boar taint, liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry