J. Gen. Appl. Microbiol., 48, 83–89 (2002)

The use of intact male pigs for meat production creates an economic opportunity because they generally have more lean meat per carcass and show better feed conversion ratios than castrates. Furthermore, animal welfare and the environment (due to improved nitrogen retention) benefit from entire male pig production. However, rearing intact male pigs is not used in a large number of countries because of the existence of boar taint, an objectionable odour affecting some boar meat (Bonneau, 1997). Moreover, boar taint is not a unique characteristic of boars only and may be detected, at low levels, in castrates and gilts as well (Baltic et al., 1997). Two compounds, androstenone (5a-androst-16-ene-3-one) and skatole, are held to be responsible for boar taint. Genetic factors are critical for the regulation of androstenone, whereas environEffects of fructooligosaccharide on conversion of L-tryptophan to skatole and indole by mixed populations of pig fecal bacteria