• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.529-536
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• 2018

Objective: Fresh sugarcane has been a new roughage source for ruminant's in semiarid regions, a function of the decline of sugar and alcohol industry in recent years. However, there is little data published regarding lambs fed sugarcane associated with spineless cactus. This study evaluated the effect of sugarcane replacement with spineless cactus (0%, 33%, 66%, and 100%) in the diet of Santa $In\hat{e}s$ lambs on carcass characteristics. Methods: Thirty-six non-castrated Santa Ines lambs at four months of age and an initial body weight of $22{\pm}2.3kg$ were assigned in a randomized block design and slaughtered after 70 days of confinement. The effects of spineless cactus as a replacement for sugarcane in the diet of the lambs on the carcass characteristics, commercial cut weight and yield, leg tissue composition, and carcass measurements were studied. Results: The study revealed quadratic behavior in slaughter body weight, and hot and cold carcass weight, with maximum values of 38.60, 18.60, and 18.11 kg and replacement levels of 40.18%, 44.42%, and 43.14%, respectively. The cold carcass yield presented an increasing linear behavior. The compactness index of carcass and leg presented a quadratic effect, with estimated maximal values of 0.28 and 0.57 kg/cm and replacement levels of 43.37% and 45.5%, respectively. The weights of commercial cuts of leg, loin, shoulder, and breast showed quadratic behavior, with maximum values of 2.79, 0.852, 1.46, and 1.30 kg and replacement levels of 49.5, 45.32, 39.0, and 40.7, respectively. For tissue composition, quadratic behavior was verified for leg weight, subcutaneous fat, and total fat. Conclusion: The replacement of sugarcane by spineless cactus at level 44% is recommended for finishing lambs considering that this level improved most of the carcass characteristics, weights, and yields of commercial cuts and leg tissue composition.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.64 no.2
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• pp.274-290
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• 2022

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of ferulic acid (FA) and clinoptilolite (CTL) supplementation on the growth performance, carcass characteristics, and meat quality of hair-breed lambs. Twenty-eight Kathadin male lambs (33.72 ± 3.4 kg) were randomly allocated to one of the four diets (n=7) under a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement to evaluate the effect of FA (0 or 300 ppm) and CTL (0% or 1%) during the last 40 days of the finishing phase. No interaction between additives was shown for growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality, with exception of the fatty acid profile (p < 0.05). FA reduced feed intake and carcass conformation (p < 0.05). Wholesale cuts were not affected by FA or CTL (p > 0.05). The L^*, a^*, and C^* color parameters and some intramuscular fatty acids of the longissimus thoracis muscle were positively modified by CTL supplementation (p < 0.05). While there was no FA × CTL interaction, each additive could be used individually in animal nutrition to improve the feedlot performance and meat quality of the lambs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.1882-1888
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• 2019

Objective: An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of increasing levels of crude glycerin (0%, 6%, 12%, and 18%) used as a substitute for corn in lamb feed on the quantitative characteristics of the carcass. Methods: A total of 40 crossbred Santa $In{\hat{e}}s$ lambs that were four months old with a mean initial weight of $21.0{\pm}0.8kg$ were randomly distributed in four treatments with ten replicates. The animals were slaughtered after 66 days of confinement. The effects of crude glycerin as a replacement for corn in the diet of the lambs on the carcass characteristics, commercial cut weight and yield and carcass measurements were studied. Results: There was an increasing linear effect for body weight at slaughter with the replacement of corn by crude glycerin. The dry matter and metabolizable energy intakes, weight of the empty body, hot carcass weight and cold carcass weight showed a quadratic effect, with maximum crude glycerin levels estimated at 10.9%, 9.8%, 10.83%, 11.78%, and 11.35%, respectively. The initial pH was not influenced by the replacement of corn for crude glycerin, while the final pH presented a quadratic effect. The other parameters of the carcass and the weights and yields of commercial cuts were not influenced. There was also no effect of the diets on carcass morphometric measurements, except for the thoracic perimeter and the carcass compactness index, which presented quadratic and linear effects, respectively. Conclusion: Crude glycerin can replace up to 18% of corn because it favours muscle tissue deposition without promoting changes in the main carcass characteristics of lambs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.531-540
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• 2012

Pigs from four sire lines were allocated to a series of low energy (LE, 3.15 to 3.21 Mcal ME/kg) corn-soybean meal-based diets with 16% wheat midds or high energy diets (HE, 3.41 to 3.45 Mcal ME/kg) with 4.5 to 4.95% choice white grease. All diets contained 6% DDGS. The HE and LE diets of each of the four phases were formulated to have equal lysine:Mcal ME ratios. Barrows (N = 2,178) and gilts (N = 2,274) were fed either high energy (HE) or low energy (LE) diets from 27 kg BW to target BWs of 118, 127, 131.5 and 140.6 kg. Carcass primal and subprimal cut weights were collected. The cut weights and carcass measurements were fitted to allometric functions (Y = A $CW^B$) of carcass weight. The significance of diet, sex or sire line with A and B was evaluated by linearizing the equations by log to log transformation. The effect of diet on A and B did not interact with sex or sire line. Thus, the final model was cut weight = (1+$b_D$(Diet)) A($CW^B$) where Diet = -0.5 for the LE and 0.5 for HE diets and A and B are sire line-sex specific parameters. Diet had no affect on loin, Boston butt, picnic, baby back rib, or sparerib weights (p>0.10, $b_D$ = -0.003, -0.0029, 0.0002, 0.0047, -0.0025, respectively). Diet affected ham weight (bD = -0.0046, p = 0.01), belly weight (bD = 0.0188, p = 0.001) three-muscle ham weight ($b_D$ = -0.014, p = 0.001), boneless loin weight (bD = -0.010, p = 0.001), tenderloin weight ($b_D$ = -0.023, p = 0.001), sirloin weight ($b_D$ = -0.009, p = 0.034), and fat-free lean mass ($b_D$ = -0.0145, p = 0.001). Overall, feeding the LE diets had little impact on primal cut weight except to decrease belly weight. Feeding LE diets increased the weight of lean trimmed cuts by 1 to 2 percent at the same carcass weight.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.1630-1636
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• 2013

An investigation was carried out to assess the carcass characteristics and meat quality aspects of immunocastrated male pigs of medium genetic potential for lean meat deposition in carcass (53 to 55%). When the crossbred Large White x Landrace pigs (n = 45) were 70 days old, they were distributed in a totally randomized design in three treatments (castrated males, females and immunocastrated males) with three replicates of five animals. The pigs were slaughtered when they were 140 days old. Carcass temperature and pH were recorded twice, at 45 min and 24 h after slaughter. The carcasses were evaluated for hot and cold carcass yield, commercial cuts yield, length and depth, back fat thickness, loin eye area and lean meat percentage. The Longissimus dorsi muscle was extracted for analysis of color ($L^*$, $a^*$, $b^*$), exudate loss, cooking loss and centesimal and sensorial analysis of the meat. There were no significant differences for the evaluated parameters between castrated males, immunocastrated males and females, except for backfat thickness between the 7th and 8th thoracic vertebra and the point P2 (lower for immunocastrated males) and carcass temperature at 45 min post slaughter (higher in immunocastrated males), however, this did not interfer with the rate of pH decrease post mortem and the meat quality. The results from this research did not indicate a benefit of immunocastration on carcass characteristics of pigs of medium genetic potential for lean meat deposition in carcass, when compared to surgical castration.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.8
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• pp.1246-1250
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• 1999

Rabbits (48) of Soviet chinchilla (24) and White giant (24) were fed from 6 weeks to 12 weeks of age intensively on either of four isonitrogenous - isocaloric diets containing 0 ($D_1$), 5($D_2$), 10($D_3$) and 20($D_4$) percent raw neem seed kernel cake (NSKC), respectively as per NRC (1977) requirements in a Randomized block design and slaughtered at the end to find out differences in their carcass traits due to NSKC feeding. Dietary treatment had no significant effect on weight of edibles and inedibles and their percentages and dressing percentage in terms of carcass, carcass with pluck and carcass with pluck and head. Similarly, the meat-bone ratio of various primal cuts and overall carcass, yield of edibles per unit of inedibles and eye muscle area were not influenced due to the dietary variations. Chemical composition of fresh meat, and organoleptic evaluation of cooked meat with and without salt did not vary significantly due to incorporation of NSKC in the diets. The rabbits fed 20% NSKC ($D_4$) though consumed more (p<0.05) DM and DE per kg meat production, the intake of crude protein and total digestible nutrients was similar with other dietary treatments. Feed cost per unit meat production was, however, lower on 5 and 10% NSKC containing diets by 7.75 and 12.56%, respectively, as compared to deoiled ground nut cake containing control diet. It appears that NSKC could be used as a wholesome vegetable protein supplement upto 10% in diet of rabbits without any adverse effect on commercial carcass traits.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.914-921
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• 2021

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare growth performance, carcass traits and meat quality in young bulls, steers and heifers produced by crossing Limousin bulls with Holstein-Friesian cows, fattened semi-intensively and slaughtered at 18 months of age. Methods: Thirty-one young calves were reared in a conventional production system, and were fed milk replacer, hay and concentrate. At 6 months of age, the animals were divided into groups based on gender, and were fed a total mixed ration composed of grass silage, concentrates I and II in a semi-intensive production system. At the end of the fattening period (18 months), the animals were slaughtered, carcass quality was evaluated, and samples of musculus longissimus thoracis were collected to determine the proximate composition and quality of meat. Results: Bulls were characterized by the highest percentage share of the most valuable cuts in the carcass, and three-rib sections from bull carcasses had the highest lean meat content with low intramuscular fat content (0.93%). No significant differences in carcass conformation, dressing percentage or the percentage share of round in the right half-carcass were found between bulls vs. steers and heifers. Heifers and steers had higher carcass fat content than bulls, which had a positive influence on the sensory properties of beef. In comparison with the meat of bulls, the meat of steers and heifers was characterized by more desirable physical properties and sensory attributes (water-holding capacity, shear force, color lightness, aroma, juiciness, tenderness, flavor). Conclusion: Under the semi-intensive production system, heifers and steers had higher carcass fat content than bulls, which had a positive effect on the sensory properties of beef. Bulls are better suited for intensive systems, which contribute to improving the quality of their meat. The results of this study may encourage producers to breed steers and heifers for beef.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.361-365
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• 1993

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding fresh cassava roots on the performance and carcass quality of pigs raised from $15{\pm}1kg$ to 85 kg live weight. Fresh unpeeled cassava roots were chopped into chips and offered separately along with a protein concentrate made up of copra cake and meat and bone meal, and a local mineral-vitamin premix. Commercial pig grower and finisher diets served as control. A total of 24 pigs were used in an incomplete randomized split-plot design experiment. Pigs fed fresh cassava-based diet grew as fast, 0.78 vs 0.77 kg/day, and were as efficient, 3.74 vs 3.77 in converting feed into body weight gain as those fed the commercial control diet. Similarly, there were no differences in carcass quality measured in terms of dressing percentage, 77 vs 77; backfat thickness, 2.76 vs 2.78 cm; loin eye muscle area, 29.2 vs $29.1cm^2$ and in the relative proportions of the different carcass cuts between the two dietary treatments. The use of fresh cassava along with the protein and the local mineral-vitamin premix however, resulted in lowered total feed cost and cost per unit of live weight gain. It is concluded that fresh cassava roots can be fed along with copra cake, meat and bone meal protein concentrate and a local mineral-vitamin premix to fattening pigs with no adverse affects on performance and carcass quality.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1387-1393
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• 2014

This study aimed to estimate genetic correlation between carcass grading and retail productivity traits and to estimate the correlated response on retail productivity traits through selection for carcass grading traits in order to assess the efficacy of indirect selection. Genetic parameters were estimated with the data from 4240 Hanwoo steers using mixed models, and phenotypes included carcass weight (CWT), back fat thickness (BFT), eye muscle area (EMA), marbling (MAR), and estimated lean yield percentage (ELP) as the carcass grading traits, and weight and portion of retail cuts (RCW and RCP), trimmed fats (TFW and TFP) and trimmed bones (TBW and TBP) as the lean productivity traits. The CWT had positive genetic correlations with RCW (0.95) and TFW (0.73), but its genetic correlation with RCP was negligible (0.02). The BFT was negatively correlated with RCP (-0.63), but positively correlated with TFW and TFP (0.77 and 0.70). Genetic correlations of MAR with TFW and TFP were low. Among the carcass grading traits, only EMA was positively correlated with both RCW (0.60) and RCP (0.72). The EMA had a relatively strong negative genetic correlation with TFW (-0.64). The genetic correlation coefficients of ELP with RCP, TFW, and TFP were 0.76, -0.90, and -0.82, respectively. These correlation coefficients suggested that the ELP and EMA might be favorable traits in regulating lean productivity of carcass.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.63 no.1
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• pp.180-190
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• 2021

This study aimed to determine the carcass and meat quality of broiler chickens based on the slaughter age (28, 30, 32, and 34 days). The carcass characteristics included live and carcass weights, carcass rate, dressing rate, and retail cut weight. The meat quality properties were determined through proximate composition, pH, color, water holding capacity (WHC), cooking yield, and shear-force. The broiler chicken live, carcass, breast, thigh, and wing weights significantly increased with the slaughter age (p < 0.05); the tenderloin weight also exhibited a similarly increasing trend. However, the carcass rate of the day 28 sample was significantly lower than the other samples (p < 0.05). The protein and ash contents of the breast exhibited an increasing trend with increasing slaughter age. The protein content of the thigh of the day 28 sample was significantly lower than that of the other samples (p < 0.05), while the ash contents of the day 28 and 30 samples were significantly lower. The redness of the breast showed an increasing trend, and the pH and lightness of the thigh exhibited a decreasing trend with slaughter age. The WHC and cooking yields of the day 30 and 32 breast and thigh samples were significantly higher than those of the day 28 and 34 samples (p < 0.05). The breast and thigh shear-force of the day 30-34 samples were significantly higher than those of the day 28 sample (p < 0.05). The present study showed that even with a twoday difference in slaughter age, the broiler chicken meat quality showed a significant difference in several characteristics.