Effect of pasture in oak and chestnut groves on chemical and sensorial traits of cured lard of Cinta Senese pigs

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of pasture in oak and chestnut groves on the chemical and sensorial traits of cured lard. Thirty Cinta Senese barrows (124kg of l.w. on average) were allotted to three groups: one group (CONC) was reared outdoors in a confined area and fed commercial feedstuff. The other two groups were raised under free-range conditions on acorns (AC) or chestnuts (CH). At slaughtering (148kg of LW) the backfat was seasoned for 60 days to obtained cured lard. Results demonstrated that the lard of CH and AC respect to CONC group was the richest in MUFA (46.9 and 47.76 vs 44.78% respectively) because of the higher content of oleic acid (44.2 and 44.91 vs 42.05%, P<0.05, respectively). CH showed a higher percentage of PUFA-n3 than AC and CONC (1.18 vs 1.06 and 1.03%, P<0.05, respectively), a lower content of a-tocopherol (9.77 vs 14.46 and 13.31 mu/g, P<0.05 respectively) and a higher content of gamma-tocopherol (13.73 vs 6.02 and 4.32 mu/g, P<0.05, respectively). As regards sensorial traits, the lard of CH and AC groups exhibited a lower value of pinkness than CONC (29.3 and 32.4 vs 49.2, P<0.05, respectively) and higher scores of yellowness (31.4 and 28.6 vs 18.6, P<0.05, respectively) and oiliness (37.0 and 33.7 vs 24.0, P<0.05, respectively). The pasture in the acorn and chestnut groves affected the chemical traits of lard, prevalently the composition of fatty acids. The consumption of acorns or chestnuts led to a higher content of oleic acid with respect to concentrate, affecting some sensorial traits of lard.