FATTENING AND MEAT QUALITIES OF INTRA-BREED TYPE OF PIGS OF THE DUROC BREED OF THE UKRAINIAN SELECTION «STEPOVY» AT VARIOUS METHODS OF BREEDING AND WEIGHT CONDITIONS
Pork production today is based on intensive management of the industry and quality improvement of breeds. In our country, there are changes in the breed structure in the direction of the predominant focus on breeds of meat productivity. In this regard, an important place is given to pigs of the Duroc breed, which have been used in Ukraine for a long time. Numerous studies have shown that under the same conditions of feeding, keeping fattening and meat qualities of pigs of different breeds and interbreed combinations at different weight conditions are not the same. The purpose of the work is to study the fattening and meat qualities of the intra-breed type of Duroc pigs of the Ukrainian selection «Stepovy» (DUSS) with different methods of breeding during fattening to high weight conditions. The study of fattening and meat qualities of pigs of interbreed type «Stepovy», Large White foreign (LW (FS)) and Landrace of French (L (FS)) selection took place in the conditions of SVC «Agrofirm «Mig-Service-Agro» of the Mykolaiv region. A comparative assessment of fattening and meat qualities of young animals of the following combinations: I – DUSS×♂DUSS – control group, II – ♀LW(ZS)×♂DUSS, III – ♀DUSS×♂LW(ZS), IV – ♀L(FS)×♂DUSS, V – ♀DUSS×♂L(FS) – experimental groups, when animals reach a live weight of 100, 120 and 140 kg. The highest fattening rates for three variants of fattening had young animals obtained from a combination of sows of the interbreed type «Stepovy» with boars of the Landrace breed. The expediency of fattening these pigs to high weight conditions was noted, as they maintained a high growth rate during fattening to a live weight of 140 kg. The greatest value of the complex index of fattening and meat qualities had animals of the V experimental group in the range of 211.9-203.6. When the animals reached a live weight of 100-140 kg, the lowest value of this indicator was characterized by animals of the II experimental group. It was found that the relative rate of meat yield at the slaughter of 100-140 kg was different and depended on the genotype of the animals and was in terms of groups – 64.12–53.81 %. After the meat came out of the carcass, purebred animals of the interbreed type of the Duroc breed of the Ukrainian selection «Stepovy» (I control group), local young growth of a combination ♀DUSS×♂L(FS) were better, at them at slaughter in 100–140 kg relative exit m was: 63.90–56.14 % and 64.12–57.53 %, respectively.