Evaluation of performance and characteristics of pork carces, using ractopamine rations in the termination phase

The objective was to evaluate the effect of the addition of different commercial brands of ractopamine hydrochloride on diets for finishing pigs, evaluating performance and carcass characteristics. Thirty-six pigs of the commercial strain Dalland, initial weight of 98.74 ± 0.68 kg were used. Experimental design in randomized blocks with three treatments and six replicates per treatment, two animals per experimental plot. Meat samples - control - or supplemented with 10ppm ractopamine from two laboratories were evaluated with 2 ractopamine hydrochloride. Supplementation of 10 mg / kg ractopamine 28 prior to slaughter was found to have improved feed conversion and carcass characteristics.