Role of housing system and season on the carcass and meat quality traits of growing rabbits reared in Italian commercial farms

IF 0.8 4区农林科学 Q3 AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE

World Rabbit Science Pub Date : 2023-09-28 DOI:10.4995/wrs.2023.19230

Cristina Zomeño, Francesco Bordignon, Gerolamo Xiccato, Angela Trocino, Marco Birolo, Francesca Menegon, Jacopo Tarakdjian, Guido Di Martino

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引用次数: 0

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.

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圈舍制度和季节对意大利商业农场生长兔胴体和肉质性状的影响

本研究的目的是在野外条件下，比较在四种市售住房系统(即双细胞笼、两用笼、强化笼和高架笼)中饲养的生长兔的胴体性状和肉品质，这些系统涵盖了三个生产周期，涵盖了不同的季节(即秋、冬、夏)。试验兔来自意大利东北部的12个商业农场(每个小区系统3个农场)，在5个商业屠宰场屠宰，屠宰年龄为71 ~ 90日龄。在屠宰场随机选择每个农场和周期20只胴体，并在死后24 h评估胴体和肉质性状。在强化笼中饲养的家兔胴体最重，其次是公园饲养的家兔，而在双细胞笼中饲养的家兔胴体最重。强化笼饲养的家兔胴体脂肪和腰最长肌比例高于其他饲养体系，后腿比例低于其他饲养体系。基于不同饲养系统的肉质性状(即pH值、L*、解冻损失和剪切力)的显著差异，强化笼和公园的兔子死前应激可能低于双细胞和双重用途笼的兔子。然而，由于住房系统之间的微小差异，这些差异并没有转化为肉质的明显变化。总的来说，观察到的差异不能严格地和唯一地与动物的圈养有关，也与其他生产和死前因素有关。饲养季节对屠宰性状影响显著，夏季屠宰和胴体重低于冬季和秋季。尽管被调查农场的样本量有限，但本研究强调，在实地条件下，根据圈养系统本身，兔子的最终产品质量并不能明显区分。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

World Rabbit Science 农林科学-奶制品与动物科学

CiteScore

1.70

自引率

25.00%

发文量

审稿时长

>36 weeks

期刊介绍： World Rabbit Science is the official journal of the World Rabbit Science Association (WRSA). One of the main objectives of the WRSA is to encourage communication and collaboration among individuals and organisations associated with rabbit production and rabbit science in general. Subject areas include breeding, genetics, production, management, environment, health, nutrition, physiology, reproduction, behaviour, welfare, immunology, molecular biology, metabolism, processing and products. World Rabbit Science is the only international peer-reviewed journal included in the ISI Thomson list dedicated to publish original research in the field of rabbit science. Papers or reviews of the literature submitted to World Rabbit Science must not have been published previously in an international refereed scientific journal. Previous presentations at a scientific meeting, field day reports or similar documents can be published in World Rabbit Science, but they will be also subjected to the peer-review process. World Rabbit Science will publish papers of international relevance including original research articles, descriptions of novel techniques, contemporaryreviews and meta-analyses. Short communications will only accepted in special cases where, in the Editor''s judgement, the contents are exceptionally exciting, novel or timely. Proceedings of rabbit scientific meetings and conference reports will be considered for special issues. World Rabbit Science is published in English four times a year in a single volume. Authors may publish in World Rabbit Science regardless of the membership in the World Rabbit Science Association, even if joining the WRSA is encouraged. Views expressed in papers published in World Rabbit Science represent the opinion of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the WRSA or the Editor-in-Chief.