Short Communication: Phenotypic relationship between organ lesions and carcass performance traits recorded in different abattoirs

Abstract In this study, the relationship between abattoir-recorded organ lesions and carcass traits was analyzed by estimating phenotypic correlations applying a pairwise, bivariate model. The dataset comprised 81,910 pigs from fifteen fattening farms that were slaughtered at seven abattoirs. Low to moderate correlations (r= -0.06 to 0.36) were estimated, indicating that organ lesions are associated with none to moderate changes in carcass traits. Animals were grouped according to their health status (HS0= no lesion, HS1= one lesion, HS2≥ two lesions). After applying a linear mixed model, HS1 and HS2 animals showed lower carcass weight, muscle thickness, fat thickness and lean mean content in comparison to HS0 animals. However, the extent of the difference is marginal in the context of the EU carcass classification levels.