The effect of supplemented dietary vitamin D3 on
tenderness of loin chops was determined by the WarnerBratzler
shear force method and by the Star-Probe
puncture method. Results from both measures of tenderness
indicated that feeding 500,000 IU of vitamin
D3 to pigs for 3 d (3 to 5 d before slaughter) did not
improve tenderness of loin chops (P > 0.05, Table 6).
Research with beef cattle has shown that plasma calcium
increases of 25% were associated with increased
longissimus proteolysis and subsequently a more
tender product (Swanek et al., 1999; Montgomery et