.

Physical and sensory qualities of hams from growing pigs fed varying inclusion
levels of ensiled Tithonia diversifolia leaf meal (ETDLM) as protein supplement were evaluated.
Two months old twenty four male growing pigs at an average initial weight of 13.2±0.2kg were
randomly distributed in a completely randomized designed experiment into four iso-caloric and
iso-nitrogenous dietary treatments such that the control diet had no ETDLM while diets 2, 3 and 4
had ETDLM at 10, 20 and 30% inclusion levels, respectively. Lean ham meats from pigs reared for
80-day feeding trial were evaluated. Relevant physical and sensory evaluation parameters were
taken after slaughter. On the Hedonic scale, there was a consistent decrease across diets from the
control diet to the diet containing the highest level of 30% ETDLM in most of the sensory evaluation
parameters such as flavor, juiciness, ease of fragmentation, apparent adhesion, overall acceptability
and colour. Only values obtained for residue after chewing had a different trend which seemed to
increase as the level of ETDLM increased across the diets. Cooking loss of 54.8% was highest
(P<0.05) for hams from pigs on 10% ETDLM diet although similar (P>0.05) to 50.8% in hams
obtained from pigs on the control diet without ETDLM. Thermal shortening values in ham samples
of pigs placed on diet with 30% ETDLM was the highest though similar (P>0.05) to value obtained
for hams from pigs placed on diet containing 20% ETDLM. The least thermal shortening (P<0.05)
was obtained for hams from pigs on the control diet without ETDLM. The highest cold shortening
value was obtained for hams from pigs on the control diet without ETDLM and lowest for hams from
pigs on 30% ETDLM diet. It appeared that hams from pigs on 20% ETDLM diets were generally
preferred judging from the overall evaluation of taste panelists for its better physical characteristics
as well as sensory evaluation parameters examined.