Table 6.

Effect of guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) supplementation on carcass characteristics and meat quality of finishing pigs (at 180 d of age)

Item	Diets					Sex			P value
	CON1	T12	T23	T34	SEM5	Barrow	Gilt	SEM	Diets	Sex	Diet × Sex
Slaughter weight, kg	96.10	96.17	95.99	94.04	0.29	96.00	96.15	0.21	0.977	0.622	0.858
Carcass weight, kg	71.66	72.34	72.11	72.05	0.32	72.14	71.94	0.23	0.514	0.541	0.858
Carcass %	74.56	75.24	75.14	75.01	0.38	75.16	74.84	0.27	0.598	0.407	0.887
Lean meat weight, kg	38.57b	39.78a	39.22ab	38.88b	0.19	39.00	39.24	0.14	<0.001	0.212	0.270
Lean meat content, %	53.83b	55.01a	54.41ab	53.96b	0.22	54.06	54.55	0.15	<0.001	0.308	0.027
Back-fat thickness measured on carcass, mm7	15.94a	14.95b	15.36ab	15.39ab	0.16	15.37	15.45	0.11	<0.001	0.579	0.637
Back-fat thickness measured on animal, mm	11.76	11.30	11.49	11.51	0.14	11.47	11.57	0.10	0.156	0.478	0.511
Meat quality parameters
Meat pH after slaughter8
15 min	6.87	6.88	6.91	6.90	0.03	6.90	6.89	0.02	0.732	0.621	0.808
30 min	6.66	6.63	6.62	6.65	0.03	6.65	6.63	0.02	0.741	0.395	0.267
60 min	6.32	6.29	6.31	6.32	0.03	6.31	6.30	0.02	0.850	0.729	0.723
90 min	5.93	5.92	5.92	5.94	0.03	5.95	5.91	0.02	0.973	0.139	0.759
Cooking loss, %	13.92	13.30	13.55	13.74	0.38	13.81	13.42	0.26	0.691	0.302	0.084
Drip loss, %	7.60	6.85	7.13	7.31	0.22	7.42	7.03	0.16	0.123	0.081	0.982

^a,b,cWithin a row, means without a common superscript differ (P< 0.05).

¹CON= control (basal) diet.

²T1 = basal diet + 1.2 kg GAA/MT fed 60 d before slaughter.

³T2 = basal diet + 1.2 kg GAA/MT fed 40 d before slaughter.

⁴T3 = basal diet + 1.2 kg GAA/MT fed 25 d before slaughter.

⁵SEM = standard error of mean.

⁶Considered significant when P < 0.05.

⁷Back-fat thickness of live pigs was done between 9th and 11th rib by ultrasound instrument (Aloka SSD-500, ALOKA Co., Ltd, Germany).

⁸pH measured on the semimembranosus and longissmus muscle using a pH meter (Minolta Chromameter, Japan).