Suchergebnisse

Turopolje pig (TP) is an endangered Croatian autochthonous breed typically reared in an outdoor production system linked to local oak forests and marsh meadows in Turopolje region in Central Croatia. To self-sustain TP breed the utilization of meat products with added value has recently been proposed in TREASURE project. So far little information is available on the quality attributes of TP meat products, including the effect of locally available feeding resources. Hence present study aimed to examine the quality and aromatic profile of dry-fermented sausages of TP that were reared in similar conditions but fed either conventional (CF) or acorn supplemented (AF) finishing diet. The quality of end product, pH and aw values, moisture, fat and protein content, fatty acid (FA) profile, oxidative stability, texture profile analysis (TPA), sensory evaluation and aromatic profile were determined. Data were analysed by TTEST or NPAR1WAY (for sensory data) procedure at an alpha level of 0.05. Compared to CF, AF sausages tended (P<0.1) to have higher moisture content and TPA chewiness, but generally had similar physicochemical, rheological and sensorial traits and FA composition, except for higher share of C14:0. Lipid oxidation, measured as 2-thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances, was more pronounced in AF than CF sausages. Aromagram showed terpenes as the most abundant volatiles (around 52% of the total area) in both types of sausages, followed by aldehydes (11-14%), aromatic hydrocarbons (6-10%), phenols (6-7%), alcohols (5-6%), acids (4-6%), Sulphur compounds (2- 5%), ketones (around 3%), esters (less than 2%) and aliphatic hydrocarbons (less than 1%). Compared to CF, AF sausages had less aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons and sulphur compounds, and more esters. These results suggest that acorn feeding may affect some properties of TP dry-fermented sausages but more research is needed. Funded by European Union's H2020 RIA program (grant agreement no. 634476).

Turopolje pig (TP) is a local Croatian breed which nearly extinct in the second half of the 20th century. Currently, despite the state support, the TP is still endangered and to self-sustain the breed a new marketing strategy, based on the meat products with an extra added value, is needed. As consumers nowadays increasingly demand for more convenient and healthier types of products, in present work (within TREASURE project) we investigated consumers' acceptance of health-related innovations associated with the reduction of salting or smoking of TP dry-cured ham. A consumer (n=120) sensory test was carried out in Zagreb city area with the three types of TP hams (typically salted and smoked, less salted or less smoked) and two types of standard hams (conventional and premium) from modern pig breeds. Effect of information on innovation and/or breed on ham preferences was tested using three-step procedures as blind, expected and actual (informed) test on liking scale from 1 (dislike extremely) to 9 (like extremely). Data were analysed by GLM procedures at 0.05 α-level. In the blind test, in the absence of information, no significant differences between ham liking scores were found. In the expectancy test, when only information is given, all types of TP ham were more preferred than conventional ham, but only typical TP ham was preferred over the premium ham. Finally, when tasting is repeated with the information, all TP hams were scored higher than premium ham, while innovative TP hams were scored similar as conventional ham. This results suggest the preference of TP hams over the standard hams and a good acceptance of health-related innovations in TP ham by Croatian consumers. Funded by European Union's H2020 RIA program (grant agreement no. 634476).

The Turopolje pig is a local porcine breed originating from Croatia characterised by its rusticity and adaptation to the traditional outdoor farming system linked to local oak forests. While this once-widespread breed was almost completely replaced by industrial breeds in the second half of the 20th century, there is growing interest on promoting its production in the framework of sustainable porcine production. The objective of our study (made in project TREASURE) was to characterise the gut microbiota composition in 24 Turopolje pigs raised outdoor by using a conventional feed vs a conventional feed supplemented with acorns. The gut microbiota composition of all pigs was determined by re-sequencing the bacterial 16S gene in an Illumina MiSeq device. Bioinformatics analyses were performed by using Qiime's open-reference OTU calling subsampled method following author's recommendations. NMDS and PERMANOVA analyses performed by using the Vegan R package showed significant effects of diet, showing that the acorn supplementation has a relevant impact on gut microbiota, notably by reducing richness and diversity. This result was confirmed in the differential abundance analysis which showed that 152 out of 1,466 OTUs were significantly different between the two groups. Interestingly, the predicted microbiota metabolic functions that were differentially abundant involved fatty acid and amino-acid metabolisms. Funded by European Union's H2020 RIA program (Grant agreement no. 634476).

The study of gut microbiota and its effects on hosts has emerged as an essential component of host homeostasis and global efficiency. Besides host's influence on gut microbiota, major quantitative and qualitative changes may occur in the composition of the intestinal microbiota due to the influence of diet and other environmental factors. In accordance with the TREASURE project global aim of enhancing sustainability of production systems for local pig breeds, the objective of our task was to conduct a pilot characterisation of intestinal microbiota in order to test its usefulness to characterize several local European pig populations and their production systems. This approach has been applied to populations belonging to the following European traditional breeds: Gascon (France), Iberian (Spain), Krskopolje (Slovenia), Mangalitsa (Serbia), Moravka (Serbia) and Turopolje (Croatia). For each breed, faecal samples have been collected along different experiments performed in the TREASURE project targeting the comprehension of a particular traditional production system (e.g. open-air farming), management practice, or the comparison of breeds. In all experiments, the metagenomics technique employed is the resequencing of the bacterial 16S in an Illumina MiSeq system. Overall, the results have shown that the gut microbiota analysis is a promising approach for the characterisation of these local breeds, by allowing a deeper understanding of their production systems and potentially allowing the development of new certification approaches. Preliminary results will be summarized in this communication. Funded by European Union's H2020 RIA program (Grant agreement no. 634476).

Unlike in modern breeds, the knowledge on performance and management of local pig breeds is very limited. These are key aspects to be developed for their successful exploitation that requires strategies adapted to their specific productive and metabolic characteristics, quite different from those of modern pig breeds, to ensure their preservation and future expansion, particularly for those more endangered. These are some of the challenges addressed by the project TREASURE. For this purpose, a series of experiments involving 11 European local breeds -differing in the level of development- have been carried out covering various and complementary aspects like nutritional requirements in different productive phases (Cinta Senese, Iberian), feeding practices involving locally available resources (Krskopolje, Schwäbisch- Hällisches, Turopolje, Mangalitsa, Bísaro, Iberian, Gascon), and innovative management and housing practices to enhance product quality or improve animal welfare (Cinta Senese, Alentejano, Bisaro, Iberian, Mangalitsa, Moravka, Krskopolje, Schwäbisch-Hällisches, Black Slavonian). All these activities have been designed to obtain essential information to develop future productive strategies for each of the involved breeds, taking into account to obtain local high-quality products, and seeking for optimum pig performance and high animal welfare conditions in the production systems under consideration. The information provided constitutes a unique and valuable set of data for the management of these breeds and the further development of local pork chains. In some cases it is the first available data for the breeds concerned. A general overview of the developed activities will be presented highlighting some of the achievements obtained. Funded by European Union's H2020 RIA program (Grant agreement no. 634476).

The objective of the present study is to evaluate the potential use of FT-NIRS for predicting intramuscular fat (IMF) and fatty acid groups (MUFA; PUFA; PUFA n-3, PUFA n-6; SFA) on pig grounded muscles. The research considered 160 fresh samples of Longissimus collected from 12 European local pig breeds (TREASURE* project). For every sample, lipids were extracted from IMF and fatty acid profile was determinate by gas chromatography. Two aliquots of each sample were scanned using FT-NIRS Antaris II model. Mathematical pre-treatments (multiplicative scatter correction, 1st and 2nd derivate) were applied and outliers' spectra were identified and removed when necessary. Partial least square regression was used on the average spectrum and the models validated using an external data set. Results are evaluated in terms of coefficient of regression and root mean square errors in calibration (R2- RMSE) and validation (Rp2-RMSEP). As expected, the best results were obtained for IMF with R2 higher than 0.99 and RMSE lower than 0.2. Unsaturated fatty acids, probably due to the absorption of the cis double bond in a specific region of near infrared spectra, obtain acceptable R2 (0.89 for MUFA and 0.75 for PUFA n-3 and PUFA n-6). SFA achieved a R2 of 0.81 that is lower than values reported in other studies probably because of the large variability of genotypes used. The validation models achieved both lower coefficients of determination and higher RMSEP than the calibration models; however, R2 differences between calibration and validation were smaller than 5%, except for SFA. Hence, the FT-NIRS seems promising to estimate the principal parameters of fatty acid groups on muscle samples from different European autochthonous pig breeds. Inclusion of other samples can improve the accuracy and the robustness of the models, especially considering the high variability of the samples. *Funded by European Union's H2020 program (grant agreement No 634476).

Autochthonous pig breeds provide products of differentiated quality, among which quality control is difficult to perform and insufficient for current market requirements. The present research evaluates the predictive ability of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, combined with chemometric methods as a rapid and affordable tool to assure traceability and quality control. Thus, NIR technology was assessed for intact and minced muscle Longissimus thoracis et lumborum samples collected from 12 European autochthonous pig breeds for the quantification of lipid content and fatty acid composition. Different tests were performed using different numbers of samples for calibration and validation. The best predictive ability was found using minced presentation and set with 80% of the samples for the calibration and the remaining 20% for the external validation test for the following traits: lipid content and saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, which attained both the highest determination coefficients (0.89, 0.61, and 0.65, respectively) and the lowest root mean square errors in external validation (0.62, 1.82, and 1.36, respectively). Lower predictive ability was observed for intact muscles. These results could contribute to improve the management of autochthonous breeds and to ensure quality of their products by traditional meat industry chains. ; This research was funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, grant number 634476, for the project with acronym TREASURE. The content of this article reflects only the authors' view and the European Union Agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains. Junta of Extremadura and the European Social Fund for the pre-doctoral grant (PD16057) and the GR18098.