Journal of Animal Science, Vol 75, Issue 11 2936-2941, Copyright © 1997 by American Society of Animal Science

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Relationships of meat characteristics of two lines of rabbits selected for litter size and growth rate

P. Hernandez, M. Pla and A. Blasco
Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Departamento de Ciencia Animal, Spain.

We measured meat characteristics of 46 commercial rabbit carcasses from two synthetic breeds selected for litter size or growth rate. Color measurements (CIELAB) were made on several muscle surfaces. Color measured on the muscular aponeurosis indicated a pale carcass at most of the points; Chroma (C*) and hue (H*) varied from 3.71 and 31.1, respectively, for longissimus at the 7th lumbar vertebra to 14.3 for C* of trapezius and 56.1 for H* of biceps femoris. Color of the longissimus cut surfaces differed substantially from the exterior surface color. The 1st lumbar vertebra cut also differed from the 7th lumbar vertebra cut. The pH of the biceps femoris was 5.80 and that of the longissimus was 5.75. Meat fat content of half a carcass was 5.28%. The first four principal components of an analysis with color and pH measurements of the longissimus and biceps femoris and meat fat content explained 68% of the variance. The entire set of variables was well summarized by the lightness (L*) and Chroma of the longissimus muscle exterior surface measured at the 4th lumbar vertebra, longissimus pH, and meat fat content. When the data were projected on the plane defined by the first two principal components, two separate groups of points appeared, corresponding to the animals of each breed.

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				F. Gondret, C. Larzul, S. Combes, and H. de Rochambeau Carcass composition, bone mechanical properties, and meat quality traits in relation to growth rate in rabbits J Anim Sci, July 1, 2005; 83(7): 1526 - 1535. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]