Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T02:09:18.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Carcass and meat quality of rabbits given diets having a high level of vegetable or animal fat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

M. Pla  and
C. Cervera
M. Pla
Affiliation:
Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Departamento de Ciencia Animal, PO Box 22012, Valencia 46071, Spain
C. Cervera
Affiliation:
Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Departamento de Ciencia Animal, PO Box 22012, Valencia 46071, Spain
Get access

Abstract

Three groups of does were fed respectively with three experimental diets: control (C), vegetable fat enriched (V) and animal fat enriched (A). Also their offspring were given their respective diets from weaning to slaughter. C was a standard commercial diet, V had 99 g vegetable fat per kg, and A had 114 g animal fat per kg. Sixty animals in the live-weight range 1·75 to 2·25 kg from each group were slaughtered at 9 weeks of age. The rabbits came from a commercial three-way cross. Animals on diets A and V had a better food conversion efficiency ratio, a lower drip loss and a dressing yield substantially better than those given diet C. Males had higher food conversion rate and smaller dressing yield. Carcass colour was not affected by the diet but rabbits given diet V showed less pale meat. Differences in the three colour parameters were found for the three diets for hot and chilled carcass fat colour. Muscular pH measured in the longissimus dorsi and biceps femoris were slightly higher for diets A and V and were also higher for males than for females. Water-holding capacity of raw meat from rabbits given diets A and V was higher than from rabbits given the control diet. Protein and moisture content of the meat of a hind leg was almost the same for the three diets but fat content was much higher in animals given diets A and V than in the control group.

Keywords

carcass compositiondietary fatmeat qualityrabbits
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 65 , Issue 2 , October 1997 , pp. 299 - 303
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arrington, J. L., Platt, J. K. and Franke, D. E. 1974. Fat utilization by rabbits. Journal of Animal Science 38: 76–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Association of Official Analytical Chemists. 1990. Official methods of analysis, 15th edition. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Arlington, Virginia.Google Scholar
Barton-Gade, P. A., Cross, H. R., Jones, J. M. and Winger, R. J. 1988. Factors affecting sensory properties of meat. In Meat science, milk science and technology (ed. Cross, H. R. and Overby, A. J.), pp. 141–172. Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Bernardini Battaglini, M., Castellini, C. and Lattaioli, P. 1994. Rabbit carcass and meat quality: effect of strain, rabbitry and age. Italian Journal of Food Science 6:157–166.Google Scholar
Beynen, A. C. 1988. Dietary fat level and growth performance by rabbits. Journal of Applied Rabbit Research 11: 21–24.Google Scholar
Blasco, A. and Ouhayoun, J. 1996. Harmonization of criteria and terminology in rabbit meat research. Revised proposal. World Rabbit Science 4:93–99.Google Scholar
Castellini, C. and Battaglini, M. 1992. Prestazione produttive e qualita delle carni di coniglio: influenza della concentrazione energetica della dieta e del sesso. Zootecnica et Nutrizione Animale 18:251–258.Google Scholar
Fernandez, C. and Fraga, M. J. 1996. The effect of dietary fat inclusion on growth, carcass characteristics, and chemical composition of rabbits. Journal of Animal Science 74: 2088–2094.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fernández, J., Bias, E. and Cervera, C. 1994. Utilization de piensos altos en grasa en el cebo de conejos. Proceedings of XIX Symposium Nacional de Cuniccultura, Silleda, Spain, pp. 129–132.Google Scholar
Hamm, R. 1986. Functional properties of the myofibrillar system and their measurements. In Muscle as food (ed. Bechtel, P. J.), pp. 135–199. Academic Press Inc., Orlando.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lang, J. 1981. The nutrition of the commercial rabbit. 1. Physiology, digestibility and nutrient requirements. Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews, Series B 51:197–225.Google Scholar
McNamara, D. J. 1992. Dietary fatty acids, lipoproteins, and cardiovascular disease. Advances in Food Nutrition Research 36:253–351.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Madsen, A., Jakobsen, K. and Mortensen, H. P. 1992. Influence of dietary fat on carcass fat quality in pigs. A review. Ada Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A, Animal Science 42:220–225.Google Scholar
Ouhayoun, J., Kopp, J., Bonnet, M., Demarne, Y. and Delmas, D. 1987. Influence of dietary fat composition on rabbit perirenal lipids properties and meat quality. Sciences des Aliments 7: 521–534.Google Scholar
Ouhayoun, J., Lebas, J. and Delmas, D. 1986. The effects of feeding regimes on growth and carcass quality in rabbit. Cuni Sciences 3: 7–21.Google Scholar
Ozimba, C. E. and Lukefahr, S. D. 1991. Evaluation of purebred and crossbred rabbits for carcass merit. Journal of Animal Science 69:2371–2378.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Partridge, G. G., Findlay, M. and Forlyle, R. A. 1986. Fat supplementation of diets for growing rabbits. Animal Feed Science and Technology 16:109–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pla, M., Hernandez, P. and Blasco, A. 1995. The colour of rabbit carcasses and meat. Meat Focus International 4: 181–183.Google Scholar
Pla, M., Hernandez, P. and Blasco, A. 1996. Carcass composition and meat characteristics of two rabbit breeds of different degree of maturity. Meat Science 44:85–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raimondi, R., Auxilia, M. T., Masoero, G. and De Maria, C. 1974. Effetto della grassatura dei mangimi sulla producione della came di coniglio I. Accrescimento, consumo alimentare, resa alia macellazione. Annali dell'Istituto Sperimentale per la Zootecnia 7:217–235.Google Scholar
Santomá, G., Bias, J. C. de, Carabano, R. M. and Fraga, M. J. 1987. The effects of different fats and their inclusion level in diets for growing rabbits. Animal Production 45: 291–300.Google Scholar
Schlolaut, W., Walter, A. and Lange, K. 1984. Fattening performance and carcass quality in the rabbit and dependence on the final fattening weight and the fattening method. Proceedings of the third world rabbit congress, Roma, vol. 1, pp. 445–452.Google Scholar
Statistical Analysis Systems Institute. 1990. SAS/STAT user's guide, version 6. Statistical Analysis Systems Institute Inc., Cary, NC.Google Scholar