Carcass Traits and Fat Quality of Breeding Emu (Dromaius Novaehollandiae) in Northern Japan

Abstract

Characterisation of carcass traits and fat quality is important to effectively produce and genetically improve emus. We investigated carcass traits in 309 emus. The meat production of female emus showed a significantly higher value than that of males (P < 0.01). The fat weight of male (9.232 ± 3.156 kg) was larger than that of the female (7.772 ± 2.697 kg). The fat rate was strongly correlated to body weight (r = 0.79 and r = 0.75 in male and female, respectively). The fat melting points of females and males were 19.19 ± 3.39°C and 19.39 ± 3.39°C, respectively, without significant difference. Since the fat melting point did not correlate to body and fat weights, we predicted that it was an independent trait from body growth and was highly influenced by genetic elements. Percentages of palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic and α-linolenic acids were 22.27 ± 3.50 %, 9.37 ± 1.90 %, 54.11 ± 5.17 %, 13.54 ± 7.80 % and 0.71 ± 0.59 %, respectively. Among them, linoleic acid contents showed a wide individual difference (range 0.3–19.9 %). The oleic/stearic acid ratio showed a negative correlation to the fat melting point. These results suggest that the fat melting point may be used as a useful marker for the simple evaluation of oil quality.