With the continuous development of my country's pig industry, the demand for high-quality breeding pigs is increasing year by year, which requires the continuous improvement of modern breeding technology, speed up breeding progress, improve selection efficiency, and carry out genetic improvement of breeding pigs to continuously meet the needs of the seed industry.
Pig backfat thickness and eye muscle area are directly related to pig lean meat percentage, and are highly valued as two important index parameters in pig genetic breeding and performance appraisal, and their accurate determination is of great significance. Using intuitive B-ultrasound images to measure pig backfat thickness and eye muscle area at the same time, it has the advantages of simple operation, rapid and accurate measurement, and does not harm the pig body.
Measuring instrument: B-ultrasound uses a 15cm, 3.5MHz probe to measure pig backfat thickness and eye muscle area. The measurement time, location, pig number, gender, etc. are marked on the screen, and the measured values can be displayed automatically.
Probe mold: Since the measuring surface of the probe is a straight line and the area of the pig’s eye muscle is an irregular curved surface, in order to make the probe and the pig’s back close to facilitate the passage of ultrasonic waves, it is best to have an intermediary between the probe mold and cooking oil.
Selection of pigs: Healthy pigs with a weight of 85 kg to 105 kg should be selected for routine monitoring, and the measurement data should be corrected for 100 kg of backfat thickness and eye muscle area using software.
Measuring method: Pigs can be restrained by iron bars for measuring pigs, or pigs can be fixed with a pig protector, so that the pigs can stand naturally. The iron bars can be used to feed some concentrates to keep them quiet. Avoid pigs during the measurement. Arched back or slumped waist will skew the measurement data.
B-ultrasound machine for pigs
Measuring position
1. The backfat and eye muscle area of live pigs are generally measured at the same location. Most units in our country adopt the average value of three points, that is, the posterior edge of the scapula (about 4 to 5 ribs), the last rib and the lumbar-sacral junction are 4 cm away from the midline of the back, and both sides can be used.
2. Some people only measure a point 4 cm from the dorsal midline between the 10th and 11th ribs (or the last 3rd to 4th ribs). The choice of measurement point can be determined according to actual needs.
Operation procedure: clean the measurement site as much as possible, → coat the probe plane, probe mold plane and the pig’s back measurement position with vegetable oil → place the probe and probe mold on the measurement position so that the probe mold is in close contact with the pig’s back → observe and adjust the screen effect to obtain When the image is ideal, freeze the image → measure backfat thickness and eye muscle area, and add explanatory data (such as measurement time, pig number, gender, etc.) to store and wait for processing in the office.
Precautions
When measuring, the probe, probe mold and the measured part should be close, but do not press heavily; the straight plane of the probe is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the midline of the pig’s back, and cannot be cut obliquely; and the 3 and 4 hyperechoic shadow bands produced by the longissimus dorsi sarcolemma, and then determine the hyperechoic images of the sarcolemma around the eye muscle to determine the perimeter of the eye muscle area.
Post time: Feb-13-2023
