Specific Gravity as a Measure of the Fat Content of the Pork Carcass

Abstract

Carcass data from two groups of hogs were studied to investigate the possibility of using specific gravity as a means of estimating the fat or lean content of the carcass. Group I included 34 hogs from 3 inbred Duroc lines and their crosses produced in the Oklahoma Swine Breeding Project. Group II included 32 individually fed outbred Duroc hogs used in a feeding trial at the Oklahoma Station. Hogs from both groups were slaughtered at weights ranging from 202 to 230 pounds. The average specific gravity for the 66 carcasses was 1.027. Intra-group correlations of specific gravity with area of loin eye, percentage primal cuts, percentage lean cuts, and carcass length, were positive and highly significant. Highly significant negative correlations were found between specific gravity and average backfat thickness, percentage fat cuts, and chilled carcass weight. The correlations calculated in this study indicate that the fat or lean content of the carcass may be as accurately estimated by the specific gravity as by the percentage fat cuts or percentage lean cuts.