Effects of compound plant essential oil on growth performance,slaughter performance,meat quality,and economic benefit of finishing pigs
NI Xiupeng
ZHEN Xiao
ZHANG Jianhua
LI Hongjiang
Abstract：This experiment aimed to investigate the effects of compound plant essential oil on the growth performance,slaughter performance,meat quality,and economic benefit of finishing pigs.A total of 160 healthy'Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire'crossbred finishing pigs with similar body weight(half male and half female)were randomly divided into four groups,with five replicates per group and eight pigs per replicate.The control group was fed a basal diet,while experimental groups Ⅰ,Ⅱ,and Ⅲ were supplemented with 200,400,and 800 mg/kg compound plant essential oil in the basal diet,respectively.The pre-test period was seven days,and the formal test period was 70 days.The results showed that compared with the control group,there were no significant differences in the average daily feed intake of each experimental group(P＞0.05).The final body weight and average daily weight gain in experimental groups Ⅱ and Ⅲ were significantly increased(P＜0.05),and the feed-to-gain ratio in the experimental group Ⅱ was significantly decreased(P＜0.05).No significant differences were observed in loin eye area,backfat thickness,and slaughter rate of each experimental group(P＞0.05).Carcass weight,carcass oblique length,net meat percentage,and lean meat percentage in experimental groups Ⅱ and Ⅲ were significantly increased(P＜0.05).The cooking loss of each experimental group was significantly reduced(P＜0.05),and the shear force and drip loss of experimental groups Ⅱ and Ⅲ were significantly reduced(P＜0.05).The profit of the experimental group Ⅱ increased by 8.04％.The study indicates that compound plant essential oil can effectively improve the growth performance,slaughter performance,meat quality,and breeding profit of finishing pigs.Among them,the appropriate addition amount of compound plant essential oil is 400 mg/kg.
Keywords：compound plant essential oilfinishing pigsgrowth performanceslaughter performancemeat quality
Publication Date：2025-11-16
Online Publishing Date：2026-01-12(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：4( 45-48 )