Table 4. Carcass characteristics of the finisher pigs reared on varying planes of nutrition during the grow-finish period

Item High-plane grower Medium-plane grower Low-plane grower
Barrow Gilt Barrow Gilt Barrow Gilt
HPF11) LPF11) HPF LPF HPF LPF HPF LPF HPF LPF HPF LPF
No. of animals2) 12 15 12 13 16 14 15 12 16 10 14 14
Live wt (kg) 114.2 ± 1.4 109.7 ± 1.3 110.1 ± 1.4 110.9 ± 1.4 115.7 ± 1.2 110.2 ± 1.3 113.5 ± 1.3 108.2 ± 1.4 112.5 ± 1.2 108.3 ± 1.6 112.8 ± 1.3 109.7 ± 1.4
Carcass wt (kg) 87.5 ± 1.2 84.9 ± 1.1 85.2 ± 1.2 85.5 ± 1.2 88.3 ± 1.0 83.5 ± 1.1 87.4 ± 1.1 82.3 ± 1.2 86.5 ± 1.0 82.1 ± 1.3 87.1 ± 1.1 84.5 ± 1.2
Dressing (%) 76.6 ± 0.4 77.4 ± 0.4 77.4 ± 0.4 77.1 ± 0.4 76.3 ± 0.3 75.7 ± 0.4 77.0 ± 0.4 76.1 ± 0.4 76.9 ± 0.3 75.8 ± 0.4 77.2 ± 0.4 77.1 ± 0.4
Backfat thickness (BFT; mm)
 Measurement 21.8 ± 1.1 22.7 ± 0.9 22.1 ± 1.1 19.8 ± 1.0 24.2 ± 0.9 22.4 ± 1.0 21.3 ± 0.9 21.9 ± 1.1 24.1 ± 0.9 26.1 ± 1.2 20.6 ± 1.0 23.5 ± 1.0
 At 112 kg3) 21.2 ± 0.9 23.3 ± 0.8 22.4 ± 0.9 20.1 ± 0.9 23.2 ± 0.8 22.8 ± 0.9 21.0 ± 0.8 22.6 ± 0.9 24.0 ± 0.8 27.1 ± 1.0 20.4 ± 0.8 24.0 ± 0.9
Item p-value
G1) S1) F G×S G×F S×F G×S×F
Live wt (kg) 0.50 0.27 < 0.01 0.20 0.19 0.17 0.37
Dressing (%) < 0.01 0.02 0.10 0.62 0.11 0.74 0.18
BFT at 112 kg < 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.14 0.02 0.54 0.03
Data are least squares means ± standard errors of means of the indicated numbers of animals.
Pigs weighing 102 kg or less at the end of the feeding trial were not slaughtered.
Corrected for the indicated live weight.
HPF, high-plane finisher; LPF, low-plane finisher; G, grower; S, sex; F, finisher.v