The Effects of Dietary Inclusion of Mulberry Leaf Powder on Growth Performance, Carcass Traits and Meat Quality of Tibetan Pigs

SIMPLE SUMMARY: In recent years, consumers have been paying more and more attention to the flavor and texture of pork, and, therefore, the Chinese indigenous pig breeds, like Tibetan pigs, are valued for good meat quality. Herein, we investigated whether dietary mulberry leaf powder could further improve the meat quality of Tibetan pigs. Our results indicated improved meat quality in Tibetan pigs who consumed mulberry leaf powder, which might be the consequence of enhanced antioxidant activity and altered muscle fiber type and morphology. ABSTRACT: This research was conducted to study the effects of dietary inclusion of mulberry leaf powder (MLP) on growth performance, meat quality, antioxidant activity, and carcass traits of Tibetan pigs. Eighteen Tibetan pigs (33.8 ± 1.1 kg) were assigned to two treatment groups randomly and received either the control diet (CON) or a basal diet containing 8% MLP (MLP) for two months. After the two-month feeding trial, the MLP group showed lower backfat thickness while a higher lean percentage. Compared with CON pigs, MLP pigs had higher serum CAT activity. In addition, dietary MLP supplementation significantly decreased the muscle shear force. Muscle fiber morphology analysis showed that MLP pigs had larger muscle fiber density while smaller muscle fiber cross-sectional area. Up-regulated gene expression of myosin heavy chain (MyHC)IIa was also observed in MLP pigs. These results indicate that the enhanced antioxidant activity and altered muscle fiber type and morphology appeared to contribute to the improvement of meat quality in Tibetan pigs fed diets containing MLP.