Submitted to: Applied Animal Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/6/2021
Publication Date: 7/28/2021
Citation: Zhu, Y., Cox, R., Johnston, L.J., Reese, C., Forcella, F., Gesch, R.W., Li, Y.Z. 2021. Effects of increasing inclusion of camelina press cake in diets fed to growing-finishing pigs on pork quality. Applied Animal Science. 37(4):357-366. https://doi.org/10.15232/aas.2021-02161.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15232/aas.2021-02161

Interpretive Summary: Camelina is an alternative winter oilseed crop being developed for large-scale commercial production in North America. Camelina seed oil has several proven food and industrial applications, and as an oil crop it is well suited to relay-cropping in Midwestern farming systems. Uses for camelina seed meal (aka press cake) following oil crushing are less known, although markets for this product are needed to promote commercial production. A study was conducted with collaborators from the University of Minnesota to feed camelina press cake to finishing hogs and evaluate pork (i.e., meat) quality. Experimental pigs were fed diets supplemented with 0, 5%, 10%, and 15% camelina press cake and later evaluated for carcass composition, belly firmness, and pork quality. Results showed that feeding pigs up to 15% press cake in their diets did not affect pork quality compared with hogs fed a standard diet with no press cake. This bodes well for marketing camelina press cake as an animal feed supplement, which is likely to increase camelina’s value and promote commercial production. This information will benefit crop and hog producers interested in using camelina, and will also benefit other researchers and educators, oil producers, and the specialty oilseed industry in the process of developing camelina as an alternative crop.

Technical Abstract: We investigated whether increasing inclusion of camelina press cake (CPC) in pig diets would influence carcass traits, pork quality, and belly firmness. Pigs (initial weight = 35.3 ± 2.8 kg) were fed diets based on corn–soybean meal with 0, 5, 10, or 15% CPC to replace corn and soybean meal for 12 wk. There were 6 pens of 8 pigs each per dietary treatment. At 23 wk of age, gilts (n = 22), each from a different pen, were slaughtered for pork quality evaluation. Data were analyzed using the Glimmix models of SAS. Results and Discussion: Increasing dietary inclusion of CPC decreased (P < 0.05) hot carcass weight, dressing percentage (DP), belly thickness, and backfat thickness at the 10th rib, and increased lean percentage of carcasses. Changes in chill loss percentage, 45-min and 24-h postmortem pH, water holding capacity and marbling score of pork chops, or belly firmness with increasing CPC inclusion were not detected (all P > 0.10). Increasing CPC inclusion decreased (P < 0.05) Warner-Bratzler shear force value and objective color (a*) of pork chops quadratically. Subjective color and overall appearance scores across 7 d were less favorable (P < 0.05) for pork chops from pigs fed increasing dietary inclusion of CPC to 15%. But, changes in shear force value, subjective color, and overall appearance scores for pork chops with dietary CPC inclusion were of small magnitude. Increasing dietary inclusion of CPC up to 15% decreased hot carcass weight, DP, and belly thickness but increased lean percentage of carcasses.