Effects of alfalfa meal addition on production performance and meat quality of finishing pigs

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of alfalfa meal addition on production performance and meat quality of finishing pigs. One hundred and sixty healthy Duroc Landrace Big finishing pigs with similar parity and body weight around 60 kg, half male and half female were selected. There were totally 5 treatments including the control group without alfalfa and the treatments with 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% of alfalfa meal. Each treatment had 4 replicates with 8 pigs per replication. Experiment was designed using completely randomized with single factor. The results showed that 10% alfalfa meal significantly (P0.05) increased the final weight of the pigs, and 10% and 15% alfalfa meal also significantly (P0.05) increased the average daily gain of the pigs and significantly (P0.05) reduced the feed conversion ratio of the pigs. The meals with 10%, 15% and 20% alfalfa significantly (P0.05) increased the pork loin area of the pigs. The meals with 5%, 10% and 15% alfalfa significantly (P0.05) increased the intramuscluar fat. However, there was no significant effects of alfalfa meal on the pork pH, water rate index and cooked rate. These results suggested that the alfalfa meal diets can improve the performance and meat quality of finishing pigs and the 10% alfalfa meal was optimal.