Supplementing pig diet with 0.2% sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa mill.) wood extract had no effect on growth, carcass or meat quality

The effect of tannin supplementation on growth performance, carcass and meat quality of pigs was studied. Natural extract of chestnut wood (Farmatan produced by Tanin Sevnica d.d., Sevnica, Slovenia) in the concentration of 2 g/kg of feeding mixture was added in the feed of experimental group of pigs (n = 15) from 30 kg to slaughter at app. 100 kg of live weight. During rearing growth performance i.e. daily gain in different periods was recorded. After the slaughter carcass traits such as carcass weight, muscle and fat thickness, carcass and ham leanness, muscle and fat area were recorded. Meat quality was assessed as colour (Minolta L*a*b*), pH value and water-holding capacity (tray drip loss). Based on spectral data the percentage of metmyoglobin and intramuscular fat content were also determined. The results showed no effect of adding tannins in pigs’ diet on any of the studied characteristics. A given concentration of chestnut wood extract of tannins is probably too low to cause any impact on growth, carcass or meat quality. Furthermore, no detrimental effect was either observed. Based on the presented results we cannot exclude possible beneficial or detrimental consequences of higher tannin concentration on growth, carcass or meat quality.