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

Abstract

AbstractThree 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.