Ham quality and its relationship to carcass quality II. Spesific weight and dissection analysis of the ham

Authors

• Unto Uusisalmi Department of Animal Breeding, University of Helsinki

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.71792

Abstract

Ham quality and its relationship to carcass quality were investigated in Landrace and Yorkshire pigs at the Puistola (n = 97) and Pohjanmaa (n = 103) litter testing stations by means of specific weight of the ham and dissection analysis of the ham and the most valuable part of the carcass. The material was processed by means of factor analysis. The greatest loading in the first factor was acquired by the fat-% of the ham (0.93), the second greatest by the meat-% of the ham (—0.90), the third greatest by the skin + fat part of the ham (0.89), and the fourth by the percentage of the skin + fat component of the most valuable part of the carcass (0.82). The skin + fat part of the ham correlated very significantly with the skin + fat component of the most valuable part of the carcass (Puistola r = 0.76, Pohjanmaa r = 0.74), and meat + bone part of the ham with the meat + bone component of the most valuable part of the carcass (Puistola r = 0.83, Pohjanmaa r = 0.81). In the Pohjanmaa material (n = 99) the phenotypical and genotypical correlations of the ham, back and their components with the carcass and its equivalent components were found to be relatively uniform. The only exception was the correlation of the meat + bone of the ham with the meat + bone of the most valuable part of the carcass (rphen. = 0.83, rgen. = 0.48). No significant phenotypical or genotypical correlation was found between the skin + fat of the ham and meat + bone of the ham.