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Simple Summary: A growing consumer focus on animal welfare, high-quality meat, and product traceability has led to an increased demand for meat from ancient local breeds reared outdoors. Traditionally, these systems involve the slaughter of heavy and fat pigs, which are castrated to mitigate boar taint, an off odor and flavor rejected by consumers when detected. A more welfare-friendly approach involves rearing and slaughtering young intact pigs, leaner and with limited boar taint content in meat and fat. This goal can potentially be achieved through diet manipulation, a strategy that has proven effective in lean industrial breeds but remains unexplored in fatty local breeds like the Portuguese Alentejano pig. In this trial, we studied the influence of gender on meat and fat quality in Alentejano pigs reared outdoors that were fed both commercial and experimental diets during fattening. The results revealed that outdoor finished intact Alentejano pigs produced meat and fat with higher leanness and lower levels of saturation than castrated ones. The LL muscle of intact pigs presented a lower antioxidant activity compared to castrated ones, but this did not affect the lipid oxidative stability of cooked meat between the experimental groups. The experimental diet, with no negative effects on growth, did not influence boar taint compounds, which remained below the threshold values for consumer detection on all Alentejano pigs. This work aimed to examine the effects of sex on meat and fat quality traits from thirty Portuguese Alentejano (AL) pigs reared in outdoor conditions. These pigs were divided into three groups and fed ad libitum. From ~40 to 130 kg LW, castrated (C group) and intact animals (I and IExp) consumed commercial diets. Until slaughter (~160 kg), C and I pigs remained on commercial diets, and IExp changed to a more sustainable experimental diet with locally produced pulses and byproducts. Samples were collected from the Longissimus lumborum (LL), Psoas major (PM), and dorsal subcutaneous fat (DSF). At ~160 kg, the PM muscle of intact pigs presented lower intramuscular fat content than that of C pigs, while total collagen was higher. Additionally, PM myoglobin was lower and lightness (L*) was higher in intact pigs. Regarding DSF, moisture and total protein contents were higher and total lipids were lower in intact than in castrated pigs, while color parameters were not significantly different. Finally, antioxidant capacity measured in the LL muscle showed an overall lower value in intact pigs. However, lipid oxidation values were not significantly different between the experimental groups and only increased with storage time. Outdoor-reared intact AL pigs produced leaner and less saturated pork and fat compared to castrated ones. Despite the lower antioxidant activity observed in the LL muscles of intact pigs, the lipid oxidative stability of cooked meat was not different among the experimental groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: EU consumers are increasingly concerned about the practice of surgical castration of male piglets. An alternative approach that is more welfare-friendly is to raise intact pigs, but it is important to limit boar taint in the meat and fat of these animals, which produces an off-odor and flavor rejected by consumers when perceived. One way to accomplish this is by diet manipulation, as reported in previous studies with commercial non-castrated hybrid pigs selected for lean meat deposition. In this trial, we tested the effect of sex on the blood, growth, carcass, and meat quality as well as on the boar taint compounds of Alentejano pigs. The pigs were raised outdoors and fed commercial and fiber-rich diets, the latter known for their potential to reduce boar taint. The results show that outdoor raised intact Alentejano pigs grew faster and produced leaner and less saturated meat than castrated ones. Although the experimental diet had no significant effect on boar taint compounds, the levels detected on most Alentejano pigs were, however, below the threshold values for consumer detection. This trial evaluated the effect of sex on the blood, growth, carcass, meat quality, and boar taint compounds in male Alentejano (AL) pigs (n = 30). From ~40 to 130 kg LW, castrated (C) and intact pigs (I and IExp groups) were fed commercial diets ad libitum. Between ~130 and 160 kg (slaughter), C and I pigs continued on commercial diets, while IExp were fed an experimental diet containing locally produced pulses and by-products aimed at reducing boar taint. At ~160 kg, blood urea levels were higher in IExp than C pigs, triacylglycerols were lower in both intact groups, and cortisol was lower in IExp. IExp pigs exhibited faster growth, improved feed conversion ratio, carcass higher commercial yield and leaner meat than C pigs. The loin intramuscular fat in intact pigs was lower, less saturated and more polyunsaturated, while total collagen was higher. Fat androstenone content was higher in intact pigs and skatole content was similar across treatments, although they were below threshold values for consumer detection. Finally, although boar taint compounds were low in intact AL pigs raised outdoors, adding pulses and by-products to the experimental diet did not result in a reduction in fat skatole content compared to pigs fed the commercial diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]