Raising male pigs as an alternative to surgical castration.

Abstract

Castration of male piglets is performed in many European countries to reduce boar taint. However, a more animal friendly alternatives are available. The present work aims to characterize current alternatives to reduce boar taint with special emphasis on nutrition factors. There have been numerous attempts to find an alternative diets for entire male pigs, which would fulfil nutritional requirements and reduce skatole and eventually androstenone levels without compromising animal welfare. The level of boar taint can be reduced by including non-digestible carbohydrates (to reduce skatole) and by including adsorbent materials (to reduce androstenone) into the pig’s diet. Further research to optimize diet and evaluate the effect of dietary supplements on pig’s health and welfare are required.

Keywords

swine; castration; nutrition; animal welfare; consumers

Published in

Title: Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium Modern Trends in Livestock Production
Publisher: Institute for Animal Husbandry, Belgrade-Zemun, Serbia

Conference

The 13th International Symposium Modern Trends in Livestock Production, October 6 – 8, 2021, Belgrade, Serbia

SLU Authors

• Zamaratskaia, Galia

  • Department of Molecular Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science

Publication identifier

• ISBN: 978-86-82431-77-0

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/126454