Effect of genotype and sex on meat colour changes in rabbit

Abstract

Abstract. A study based on 150 carcasses of rabbit crosses of three breeds: Flemish Giant (FG), New Zealand White (NZW) and Californian (CAL) was conducted to determine the changes that occur within the first 24 h post mortem in the meat color parameters, i.e. lightness (L*), redness (a*), yellowness (b*), chroma (C*) and hue (H*), in the rabbits of different genetic groups and sexes. Four groups were formed: FN (FG bucks×NZW does); FC (FG bucks×CAL does); FN×C (FN bucks×CAL does); FN×FN (FN bucks×FN does). Meat colour was measured on the surface of Longissimus dorsi (LD) and biceps femoris (BF), 45 min and 24 h post mortem. The genetic groups differed significantly in the meat colour parameters of the LD and BF muscles at both times after slaughter. After 24 h, a* and b* values of the LD muscle were highest in FC group (18.05 and 6.65, respectively) and the lowest in FN×FN group (16.46 and 4.75, respectively). The greatest color difference (ΔE) of the LD muscle was in FN×FN rabbits (9.85) and the smallest in FC group (5.07). The differences between genetic group in color parameters of the BF muscle were smaller but significant, which indicates that crossbreeding may be used in practice to change meat color. Sex did not influence significantly the color parameters of the muscles at either time, although the a* and C* values of the BF muscle were higher in males than females.

Growth, carcass and meat quality traits of two South African meat rabbit breeds

“…The high pH was probably also linked to the low L*, very low a*, and high b* values, relative to other studies (Combes et al, 2008;Maj et al, 2012), although the values were similar to those reported by North et al (2018b). However, numerous other structural and biochemical traits that manifest in muscle may change meat colour, and these can be influenced by a variety of factors, such as genetic type and postmortem temperature variation (Maj et al, 2012).…”

Effect of genotype, housing system and hay supplementation on carcass traits and meat quality of growing rabbits

“…Dalle Zotte and Ouhayoun (1998) and Maj et al (2012) observed differences in meat color among different genotypes. In contrast with our results, most researchers (Hernández, Pla, & Blasco, 1997;Ramírez et al, 2004) did not find significant differences in L* value.…”

“…One such breed is the Giant rabbit, which can be used either as pet rabbit or terminal breed. Whereas several papers have been published on the carcass traits of Flemish Giant (Lukefahr, Hohenboken, Cheeke, Patton, & Kenninck, 1982;Ozimba & Lukefahr, 1991;Prayaga & Eady, 2003;), Spanish Giant (López & Sierra, 2002), German Giant (Bianospino, Wechsler, Fernandes, Roça, & Moura, 2006), Moravian Blue (Tůmová et al, 2013), and Hungarian Giant (Holdas & Szendrő, 2002), only few have investigated their meat quality (Bolet, 2002;Maj, Bieniek, Sternstein, Węglarz, & Zapletal, 2012).…”

Effect of genotype, housing system and hay supplementation on performance and ear lesions of growing rabbits

“…They are used as pet rabbits or for crossing in commercial farms. Several papers have been published about their production: Flemish Giant (Lukefahr et al, 1982;Lukefahr and Ozimba, 1991;Bolet, 2002;Prayaga and Eady, 2003;Maj et al, 2012), Spanish Giant (López and Sierra, 2002), German Giant (Bianospino et al, 2006), Moravian Blue (Tůmová et al, 2013), Transylvanian Giant (Petrescu-Mag et al, 2011, Hungarian Giant (Holdas and Szendrő, 2002;Hungarian Giant Rabbit-breeders Association).…”