Establishment of bilateral symmetryand accuracy of carcass data estimates in Ghungroo pig carcass

Ghungroo is the first registered pig breed of indigenous origin in India. The work was designed to develop a reference dissection method for carcasses by establishing bi-lateral symmetry and to determine whether or not differences exist between right and left sides of pig carcasses for some precisely measured physical and chemical traits. Carcass evaluation procedures could be simplified if selected measurements from one side accurately reflect the composition or meat quality of the entire carcass. Forty pigs of Ghungroo breed were selected to represent equally two sexes and two market weight groups. The pigs were slaughtered and after the carcasses were chilled they were carefully split into left and right sides. Least correlation coefficient (0.961) was observed for carcass length. The weights of all the five muscles evaluated differed slightly, but the left and right averages were not significantly different. Similarly, the mean difference for total intramuscular fat between left and right units of a muscle pair was not significant for any of the five muscles studied. Thus, the data obtained from left side of a Ghungroo pig carcass apparently was sufficiently accurate for most experimental purposes.