Breast myopathy co-occurrence and its impact on carcass and meat quality attributes in broiler chickens.

Wooden breast (WB), spaghetti meat (SM) and white striping (WS) are significant research focuses due to their impact on meat quality. This study examines the relationship between different myopathies in chickens from a commercial slaughterhouse and compares physicochemical traits between breasts with single and multiple myopathies and control (CO-no apparent myopathy). A total of 240 breasts were evaluated for myopathy presence, severity and location, and physicochemical parameters (i.

Visible and near-infrared spectral imaging combined with robust regression for predicting firmness, fatness, and compositional properties of fresh pork bellies.

Belly is a widely consumed pork product with very variable properties. Meat industry needs real-time quality assessment for maintaining superior pork quality throughout the production. This study explores the potential of using visible and near-infrared (VNIR,386-1015 nm) spectral imaging for predicting firmness, fatness and chemical compositional properties in pork belly samples, offering robust spectral calibrations.

The role of carcass processing (hot vs. cold boning) on pork belly morphological and mechanical characteristics.

This study assessed the effect of boning processing method (hot vs. cold) on pork belly morphological and mechanical traits and the evolution of these traits during refrigerated storage postmortem (PM). A total of 14 crossbred pigs were slaughtered and their carcasses and bellies processed under two conditions: hot boning (n = 14, right sides of carcasses cut immediately after slaughter) and cold boning (n = 14, left sides of carcasses cut 24 h PM).

Pork belly quality variation and its association with fatness level.

Belly is a very popular pork cut composed of different layers of fat and muscle tissue. This work aims to investigate the effect of belly fatness on the morphological, mechanical (firmness) and compositional characteristics of fresh pork bellies and the distribution of the fat within the belly slice. A total of 182 bellies, selected to ensure variability of fatness, sexes and genotypes, were scanned by computed tomography (CT) to determine the fat content which, together with the genotype, led to the formation of 5 classes: F1 class below 26%, F2 class from 26% to 33.

The effect of immunocastration of male and female Duroc pigs on the morphological, mechanical and compositional characteristics of pork belly.

Pork belly is an important and heterogeneous cut, characterized by its fat content. Immunocastration is an alternative to surgical castration that can modify the composition of carcasses and cuts and it can affect at its processing. This work compares the morphological, mechanical and compositional characteristics of pork belly of (1) pure Duroc pigs from surgically castrated males (CM), entire females (EF) and immunocastrated females (IF), and (2) Duroc crossbreed pigs from immunocastrated males (IM) and entire males (EM).

A matter of body weight and sex type: Pig carcass chemical composition and pork quality.

This study compares minced carcass chemical composition and meat quality of castrated (CM), immunocastrated (IM) and entire male (EM), and female (FE) pigs at 70, 100 and 120 kg target body weights (TBW) (n = 80; 20 per sex). Sex affected fat, protein, and moisture content of the minced carcasses. Carcass fatty acid (FA) composition was affected by sex, with higher saturated and monounsaturated FA content in CM than in FE, IM and EM, and higher polyunsaturated FA in CM than in EM, with FE and IM in between.

A pilot study about on-farm assessment of health and welfare in rabbits kept in different housing systems.

This pilot study tested an on-farm protocol based on resource, management, and animal-based measures to evaluate the on-farm health and welfare of rabbits kept in four different housing systems. In detail, the four housing systems were (1) standard breeding cages for reproducing does (3,300 cm) with their litters associated with bicellular cages for growing rabbits (1,200 cm); (2) dual-purpose cages for both reproducing does and growing rabbits (3,655 cm); (3) enriched cages (4,739 cm) for both reproducing does and growing rabbits equipped with a wire-mesh elevated platform (1,015 cm); (4) parks (30,977 cm) made up of four modules (7,744 cm each) joined by removing the wire net walls between them with growing rabbits kept in collective parks and reproducing does individually in the single modules. A total of 12 commercial farms (three farms/four housing systems) were visited during three seasons (summer, autumn, and winter) on two occasions each: (1) a pre-weaning visit for recordings on reproducing does and litters and (2) a pre-slaughtering visit for recordings on growing rabbits.

Productive performance and in vivo body composition across the growing and finishing period and carcass traits in pigs of four sex types.

This study compares performance, body and carcass composition among castrated (CM), immunocastrated (IM) and entire males (EM), and females (FE) at 30, 70, 100 and 120 kg of body weight (total of n = 92; 20-24/sex type). Overall, IM had similar growth and feed intake to CM and greater than EM and FE. At each slaughter stage, IM had a lower killing-out percentage than CM and FE, in line with their heavier liver and kidneys.

Effect of dietary supplementation with yeast cell wall extracts on performance and gut response in broiler chickens.

Background: The dietary supplementation of yeast cell wall extracts (YCW) has been found to reduce pathogenic bacteria load, promote immunoglobulin production, prevent diseases by pro-inflammatory responses, and alter gut microbiota composition. This study evaluated growth and slaughter results, health, gut morphology, immune status and gut transcriptome of 576 male chickens fed two diets, i.e.

The Use of Environmental Enrichments Affects Performance and Behavior of Growing Rabbits Housed in Collective Pens.

This study assessed the effects of an elevated plastic-slatted platform and/or a plastic hiding tube in collective pens with large group sizes (27 or 36 rabbits/pen; 16 rabbits/m) on the performance and welfare of rabbits kept from weaning (at 33 days of age) to slaughter (at 68 or 75 days of age). Growth performance, injuries, and behavior (video recorded for 24 h) of rabbits ( = 504) were recorded. The platform allowed rabbits to adopt the rearing position more frequently (+0.

Effect of breast myopathies on quality and microbial shelf life of broiler meat.

To evaluate the impact of emerging myopathies on meat quality and microbial shelf life, 48 normal, 48 white striped (WS), and 48 wooden breasts (WB) were stored for 11 d at 4°C aerobically and analyzed at 24, 72, 120, 168, 216, and 264 h post-mortem. Normal breasts showed lower (P < 0.001) redness index (-0.

Impact of pre-slaughter transport conditions on stress response, carcass traits, and meat quality in growing rabbits.

In growing rabbits (n = 320; 84 d of age), an increase in the journey duration to the slaughterhouse from 1 h to 3 h under mild climatic conditions (10-13 °C; 75-90% relative humidity) affected several stress indicators in the plasma and muscle collected at slaughter (cortisol; corticosterone; lactate dehydrogenase, LDH; lactate; heat shock protein 70 kDa, HSP70; osmolality, and Na) (0.001 < P < .05), reduced muscle L*, b* (P < .

Predicting the carcass chemical composition and describing its growth in live pigs of different sexes using computed tomographys.

The aims of this study were (1) to evaluate the ability of computed tomography (CT) to predict the chemical composition of live pigs and carcasses, (2) to compare the chemical composition of four different sex types at a commercial slaughter weight and (3) to model and evaluate the chemical component growth of these sex types. A total of 92 pigs (24 entire males (EM), 24 surgically castrated males (CM), 20 immunocastrated males (IM) and 24 females (FE)) was used. A total of 48 pigs (12 per sex type) were scanned repeatedly in vivo using CT at 30, 70, 100 and 120 kg and slaughtered at the end of the experiment.

Divergent selection for intramuscular fat content in rabbits. I. Direct response to selection.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the selection response on intramuscular fat (IMF) content of LM after 3 generations of divergent selection. Heritability and genetic means for IMF content were also analyzed. Selection was based on the phenotypic value of IMF content measured in 2 full sibs of the first parity.

Divergent selection for intramuscular fat content in rabbits. II. Correlated responses on carcass and meat quality traits.

Correlated responses on carcass and meat quality characteristics after 3 generations of divergent selection for intramuscular fat (IMF) content were assessed by comparing the high and low lines. Selection was based on the phenotypic value of IMF content of LM, measured in 2 full sibs of the first parity. Traits measured were: BW, HCW, commercial carcass weight (CCW), reference carcass weight (RCW), scapular (SF) and perirenal fat (PF) content, meat-to-bone ratio (M:B) of the hind leg, pH of LM, color (lightness, L*; redness, a*; and yellowness, b*) of the carcass and of a LM section, protein content, and fatty acid (FA) composition of LM.

Application of NIRS for predicting fatty acids in intramuscular fat of rabbit.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) for predicting fatty acid content in intramuscular fat to be applied in rabbit selection programs. One hundred and forty three freeze-dried Longissimus muscles (LM) were scanned by NIRS (1100-2498nm). Modified Partial Least Squares models were obtained.

Influence of genetic line on lipid metabolism traits of rabbit muscle.

The effects of genetic line on intramuscular fat content, perirenal fat content, and activity of some enzymes involved in lipid metabolism were studied. One hundred twenty animals from 3 synthetic lines, A and V selected for litter size at weaning and R selected for growth rate between weaning and slaughter, were used in this experiment. One-half of the rabbits were slaughtered at 9 or 13 wk of age, and perirenal fat content (PF) and 2 muscles, LM and semimembranosus proprius (SP), were studied.