Abstract
The experiment was conducted to determine the factors affected on the intramuscular fat content in pigs. The pigs of the same sire were bred under the same conditions and slaughtered at the body weight of 115 kg. Subsequently, the intramuscular fat contents were measured and resulting in their fat content range 1∼10%. High and low 10% of the distribution at intramuscular content were chosen, the high intramuscular fat content : HF, and the low intramuscular fat content : LF (the same number of pigs for HF and LF, 7 barrows and 8 pigs) were compared to growth rate, weight, size and number of intramuscular adipose cell of M. longissimus thoracic as two groups. Birth weight of the HF group was lower than that of the LF group (P < 0.05), and the slaughter age of the HF group was longer than that of the LF group (P < 0.05). The weight of M. longissimus thoracic of LF group was higher than that of the HF group. The cell number and size of intramuscular adipose tissue of the HF group were higher than that of the LF group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, it was suggested that intramuscular fat accumulation which the pigs of the same sire were bred under the same conditions has related to restriction of muscle development and delay growth rate throughout the nursing period.
