The effect of three housing systems and two stocking densities on the growth performance in fryer rabbits and qualitative traits of meat was investigated. Three hundred hybrid males, 35 days old, were randomly assigned to one of three housing conditions: conventional bicellular cages, a straw-bedded pen or a wire-netted pen. The stocking densities were 16.6 rabbits/m2 in cages and 10.2m2 in pens. The trial lasted 50 days. Pen raised rabbits showed lower growth rate, and higher feed:gain ratio and mortality, than those held in cages. The slaughter traits — dressing out percentage, meat:bone ratio, carcass compactness and fatness — confirmed a lower maturity of these animals. The longissimus lumborum muscle had lower pHu (ultimate pH) and redness, higher lightness; TBA-RS (thiobarbituric reactive substances) were superior in spite of higher antioxidant capacity in vivo. The rabbits raised in straw-bedded pens gave the poorest results due to straw ingestion and more direct contact with excreta. Rearing rabbits in indoor wire netted pens is a possible alternative housing system to improve the rabbit’s welfare.
Rearing rabbits on a wire net floor or straw litter: behaviour, growth and meat qualitative traits
DAL BOSCO, Alessandro;CASTELLINI, Cesare;
2002
Abstract
The effect of three housing systems and two stocking densities on the growth performance in fryer rabbits and qualitative traits of meat was investigated. Three hundred hybrid males, 35 days old, were randomly assigned to one of three housing conditions: conventional bicellular cages, a straw-bedded pen or a wire-netted pen. The stocking densities were 16.6 rabbits/m2 in cages and 10.2m2 in pens. The trial lasted 50 days. Pen raised rabbits showed lower growth rate, and higher feed:gain ratio and mortality, than those held in cages. The slaughter traits — dressing out percentage, meat:bone ratio, carcass compactness and fatness — confirmed a lower maturity of these animals. The longissimus lumborum muscle had lower pHu (ultimate pH) and redness, higher lightness; TBA-RS (thiobarbituric reactive substances) were superior in spite of higher antioxidant capacity in vivo. The rabbits raised in straw-bedded pens gave the poorest results due to straw ingestion and more direct contact with excreta. Rearing rabbits in indoor wire netted pens is a possible alternative housing system to improve the rabbit’s welfare.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
