Organic rearing of non-castrated male pigs: welfare indicators, carcass traits, pork quality and boar taint in Duroc and Pietrain crossbreds

The main principles of organic farming as presented by the European organisation for organic food and farming are health, ecology, fairness and care, but the intrinsic quality of products is also important for consumers. Pig genotype was tested as a lever to improve animal welfare and pork quality (meat tenderness, processing ability) of organic, non-castrated males while controlling the risk for boar taint. Non-castrated Large White × Duroc (D, n = 47) or Large White × Pietrain NN (P, n = 34) males were involved in two batches, each including one group of pigs per genotype. Each group was reared in a pen from the same building on deep straw bedding (1.3 m