Role of housing system and season on the carcass and meat quality traits of growing rabbits reared in Italian commercial farms
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Author
Bordignon, Francesco
Xiccato, Gerolamo
Trocino, Angela
Birolo, Marco
Menegon, Francesca
Tarakdjian, Jacopo
Di Martino, Guido
Publication date
2023-09-28ISSN
1257-5011
Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare the carcass traits and meat quality of growing rabbits reared in four types of commercially available housing systems (i.e. bicellular cages, dual-purpose cages, enriched cages and elevated pens) across three production cycles covering different seasons (i.e. autumn, winter and summer) under field conditions. The rabbits originated from 12 commercial farms (three farms per housing system) located in the Northeast of Italy and were slaughtered in five commercial slaughterhouses at a slaughter age from 71 to 90 d. Twenty carcasses per farm and cycle were randomly selected at the slaughterhouse and carcass and meat quality traits were evaluated 24 h post-mortem. The heaviest carcass weights were found in rabbits reared in enriched cages, followed by those in parks, while the lightest carcasses were found in rabbits from bicellular cages. Carcass fat and longissimus lumborum proportions were higher and hind legs proportion lower in carcasses of rabbits kept in enriched cages compared to those from the other systems. Based on significant differences for meat quality traits (i.e. pH, L*, thawing losses and shear force) among housing systems, ante-mortem stress was likely lower in rabbits from enriched cages and parks than in those from bicellular and dual-purpose cages. Nevertheless, these differences were not translated into noticeable changes in meat quality because of the small variations among housing systems. Overall, the observed differences could not be strictly and exclusively related to the enclosure in which the animals were housed, but also to other production and ante-mortem factors. The rearing season significantly affected slaughter traits, with lower slaughter and carcass weights in summer compared to winter and autumn. Despite the limit in the sample size of investigated farms, this study highlighted that under field conditions the final product quality of rabbits is not clearly distinguishable based on the housing system per se.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
663/664 - Food and nutrition. Enology. Oils. Fat
Pages
11
Publisher
Universidad Politécnica de Valencia
Is part of
World Rabbit Science
Citation
Zomeño, C., Bordignon, F., Xiccato, G., Trocino, A., Birolo, M., Menegon, F., Tarakdjian, J., & Di Martino, G. (2023). "Role of housing system and season on the carcass and meat quality traits of growing rabbits reared in Italian commercial farms". World Rabbit Science, 31(3): 179–189. doi:10.4995/wrs.2023.19230
Program
Qualitat i Tecnologia Alimentària
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- ARTICLES CIENTÍFICS [2694]
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/