Effect on growth and meat quality of weaned piglets and finishing pigs when hops (Humulus lupulus) are added to their rations Cover

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Effect on growth and meat quality of weaned piglets and finishing pigs when hops (Humulus lupulus) are added to their rations

Open Agriculture

Volume 10 (2025): Issue 1 (January 2025)

By: Jaroslava Belkova and Miroslav Rozkot

Open Access

|Jun 2025

Figures & Tables

Average weight (kg) of animals in Experimental (E) and Control (C) groups at the beginning and end of stages I and II of the experiment.

Performance parameters

Item	Group C		Group E		Significance
Item	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Significance
Average daily gain (kg/day)
Stage I	0.436	0.077	0.405	0.062	ns
Stage II	0.713	0.104	0.781	0.073	ns
Average feed intake (kg/day)
Stage I	0.827		0.789
Stage II	3.050		2.730
FCR (kg/kg)
Stage I	1,90		1,95
Stage II	4.30		3.50

Average nutrient content (%) in feed mixes

Item	Stage I		Stage II
Item	Basic mixture	+0.5% hops	Basic mixture	+0.8% hops
Dry matter	90.06	89.61	88.10	87.78
Crude protein	15.79	16.23	12.33	12.52
Ether extract	4.21	4.54	3.67	3.86
Crude fibre	3.79	4.19	5.66	6.27
Ash	4.53	4.34	5.82	5.59

Average nutrient content (%) in faecal samples for Experimental (E) and Control (C) groups

Item	Group C		Group E		Significance
Item	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Significance
Dry matter	25.49	1.530	23.61	1.579	ns
Crude protein	25.67	3.054	27.98	0.928	ns
Ether extract	8.25	0.633	9.63	0.776	*
Crude fibre	12.64	1.625	12.22	1.063	ns
Ash	9.06	0.731	8.22	0.566	ns

TBARS content (measured as malondialdehyde) in meat samples (mg/kg) for Experimental (E) and Control (C) groups

	Day 1		Day 3		Day 6
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Group C	0.234	0.060	0.726	0.171	1.303	0.493
Group E	0.157	0.071	0.585	0.223	1.187	0.590

Fatty acid profile (% of total) in muscle (musculus longissimus lumborum et thoracis) for Experimental (E) and Control (C) groups

Fatty acid	Group C		Group E		Significance
(%)	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Significance
C14:0	1.24	0.10	1.06	0.04	*
C15:1n-5	0.35	0.13	0.47	0.21	**
C16:0	21.45	1.01	21.04	0.18	ns
C16:1n-7	2.28	0.19	2.49	0.31	ns
C17:0	0.31	0.04	0.28	0.02	ns
C18:0	12.36	0.92	12.17	0.96	ns
C18:1n-9	40.85	2.54	42.79	0.25	ns
C18:2n-6	9.48	0.80	10.06	0.36	ns
C18:3n-3	1.02	0.60	0.97	0.05	ns
C20:0	0.23	0.02	0.26	0.01	ns
C20:1n-9	0.96	0.06	0.89	0.06	ns
C20:2n-6	0.41	0.07	0.47	0.02	ns
C20:3n-6	0.18	0.07	0.20	0.01	ns
C20:4n-6	0.99	0.10	1.06	0.10	ns
C20:3n-3	0.21	0.04	0.21	0.01	ns
C24:0	0.31	0.05	0.30	0.02	ns
C24:1n9	0.15	0.04	0.28	0.03	*
∑ SFAs	36.36	1.28	35.33	2.33	ns
∑ MUFAs	44.86	2.86	47.46	2.10	ns
∑ PUFAs	12.76	1.03	13.50	0.55	ns
∑PUFA n-3	1.53	0.19	1.45	0.48	ns
∑PUFA n-6	11.22	0.96	11.84	0.36	ns
PUFA n-6/PUFA n-3 ratio	7.41		8.19
AI	0.46		0.42
TI	1.07		1.01

Basic chemical composition (%) of meat samples for Experimental (E) and Control (C) groups

	Group C		Group E
Item	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Significance
Dry matter	27.43	0.85	29.05	0.53	*
Crude protein	21.44	0.71	21.59	0.48	ns
Ether extract	4.43	1.36	5.03	0.33	ns
Ash	0.97	0.05	1.05	0.16	ns

Nutrient composition of dried hops

Item	Unit	Value
Dry matter	%	90.77
Crude protein	%	15.42
Ash	%	7.65
Ether extract	%	1.47
Fibre	%	39.42
Copper	mg/kg	30.20

Amino acid profile (g/100 g) of muscle (musculus longissimus lumborum et thoracis) for Experimental (E) and Control (C) groups

Amino acid	Group C		Group E
g/100 g	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Significance
ASP	7.64	0.17	6.91	0.25	**
THR	3.76	0.10	3.57	0.08	ns
SER	3.26	0.07	3.16	0.08	ns
GLU	12.75	0.16	11.95	0.55	ns
PRO	4.22	0.42	3.95	0.05	ns
GLY	3.40	0.14	3.27	0.10	ns
ALA	4.30	0.12	4.23	0.09	ns
CYS	0.44	0.06	0.47	0.03	ns
VAL	3.87	0.15	3.61	0.09	ns
MET	2.41	0.43	3.05	0.07	ns
ILE	3.56	0.12	3.35	0.07	ns
LEU	6.13	0.08	5.83	0.15	*
TYR	2.77	0.07	2.55	0.07	*
PHE	3.03	0.08	2.97	0.12	ns
HIS	3.52	0.20	2.90	0.19	*
LYS	5.41	0.22	6.45	0.11	***
ARG	4.70	0.76	4.55	0.21	ns

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/opag-2025-0446 | Journal eISSN: 2391-9531

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Language: English

Submitted on: Feb 25, 2025

Accepted on: May 1, 2025

Published on: Jun 12, 2025

Published by: Sciendo

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

Humulus lupulus ,

pig performance

Related subjects:

© 2025 Jaroslava Belkova, Miroslav Rozkot, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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