Precision pork production: predicting the impact of nutritional strategies on carcass quality

Abstract

Variation is inherent to living systems. Because feeding strategies are applied to groups of pigs, it contributes to the inefficient use of natural resources and may even amplify the variation among pigs at slaughter. Precision pork production and precision feeding, through management of the variation among individuals, may contribute to improving the efficiency of animal production systems. This approach relies on the prediction of the response of the animal to the nutrient supply, the continuous monitoring of the response, and a system to control nutrient supply. Most nutritional models of pig growth are based on the partitioning of nutrients between energy expenditure, and protein and lipid deposition. However, the link between chemical body composition and tissue growth, tissue composition and thus carcass quality remains a challenge in modeling. The potential of precision pork production also depends on the (real-time) information that can be obtained to control growth and carcass quality.