ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The effects of dietary levels of hop ß-acids on physical attributes, lipid oxidation and chemical composition of pork meat were evaluated. Thirty-two castrated male pigs obtained from a complete block design feeding experiment (6.23 ± 0.42 kg initial body weight (BW) to 20.45 ± 0.95 kg final BW) and fed diets supplemented with 0, 120, 240 or 360 mg kg-1 hop ß-acids during 35 days were slaughtered to sample longissimus dorsi muscle for meat analysis. RESULTS: No effects (P > 0.05) of dietary hop ß-acids were observed on meat physical attributes. Quadratic effects (P < 0.05) of hop ß-acids were observed on lipid and protein contents and on thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance (TBARS) values of meatballs, whose equations allowed the estimation of dietary hop ß-acid levels of 176, 169 and 181 mg kg-1 to provide up to 16.20% lipid reduction, 1.95% protein accretion and 23.31% TBARS reduction respectively. CONCLUSION: Dietary hop ß-acids fed to pigs might reduce lipid, increase protein and reduce lipid oxidation without affecting physical attributes of the pork meat. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.
