Meat quality of rabbits reared with two different feeding strategies: with or without fresh alfalfa ad libitum

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate production performance, carcass characteristics and nutritive value of meat of rabbits reared under the 2 prevailing feeding strategies in Uruguay. One week after weaning, 96 purebred V line rabbits were randomly distributed between 2 treatments: (T1) commercial pelleted food ad libitum and (T2) commercial pelleted food ad libitum plus fresh alfalfa ad libitum. Each treatment included 12 cages containing 4 individuals each (2 males and 2 females). Growth performance characteristics (live weight evolution, commercial food consumption and food/gain ratio) were evaluated. The consumption of alfalfa was not measured. Rabbits were slaughtered at a live weight of 2500 g and carcass characteristics were evaluated. Samples of meat and dissectible fat were analysed to determine intramuscular fat content at muscle L. dorsi, dissectible fat and intramuscular fat composition, minerals (Zn, Fe, Mg and Na), vitamin E and purines. Sensory evaluations were conducted to assess the effect of treatments on the consumer's perception of differences and the existence of attributes determining preferences. Differences between treatments were significant for total commercial food intake (23 356 vs. 20 930 g/cage; P<0.001) and feed conversion ratio (3.82 vs. 3.41; P<0.01) for T1 and T2 respectively. No significant differences were found in average daily gain, age at slaughter and carcass characteristics. There were no significant differences in the intramuscular fat content. The fatty acid composition of dissectible and intramuscular fat was affected by the inclusion of alfalfa in the diet increasing the linolenic acid content (1.82 vs. 3.28% and 2.29 vs. 5.15% for T1 and T2 at intramuscular and dissectible fat, respectively; P<0.001), and improving the n-6/n-3 relationship (8.60 vs. 5.82 and 11.58 vs. 5.64 for T1 and T2 at intramuscular and dissectible fat, respectively; P<0.001). There were no significant differences in vitamin E, Fe or Zn content between treatments, but differences were significant in Mg (22.5 vs. 24.4 mg/100 g for T1 and T2; P<0.05) and Na (44.1 vs. 48.2 mg/100 g; P<0.05). In the sensory evaluation, panellists significantly perceived differences between treatments with 95% confidence.

Technical note: Estimation of real rabbit meat consumption in Italy

“…In addition, although the total meat cut yield did not differ between market categories, the only differences were found in fore leg (11.3 vs. 10.8%; P<0.01) and coccyx (0.8 vs. 0.7%; P<0.01) when medium and heavy-size carcasses were compared. Overall, the proportion of different carcass parts are in agreement with earlier studies (Pla et al, 1996;Ortiz-Hernandez and Rubio-Lozano, 2001;Hernandez et al, 2006;Capra et al, 2013;Dalle Zotte et al, 2015;Szendrő et al, 2016) and confirm previous findings when carcasses of different size were compared (Szendrő et al, 1998).…”

“…In past decades, some studies were conducted to estimate meat yields in order to evaluate the influence of genetic and environmental factors on carcass traits in rabbits (Pla et al, 1996;Ortiz-Hernandez and Rubio-Lozano, 2001;Hernandez et al, 2006;Capra et al, 2013;Dalle Zotte et al, 2015;Szendrő et al, 2016). In this context, no specific studies have been conducted to establish a conversion factor for determining edible yield of different categories of rabbit meat carcasses that are available in the market.…”

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

“…Similar results were found in the literature. Capra et al (2013) fed a pelleted diet with or without fresh alfalfa ad libitum, Morales et al (2009) added 10, 20 or 30% green barley forage to the pelleted diet and they found decreased weight gain The results from feeding forages could depend on the forages nutritive value and their form (fresh or dried, given as pellets plus forage or mixed into the pellets).…”

“…Scientists tested several forages for rabbits: alfalfa (Bianchi et al, 2006;Linga and Lukefahr, 2000;Capra et al, 2013), cassava foliage hay (Scapinello et al, 2000), Guinea grass and Verano stylo hays (Bamikole and Ezenwa, 1999), sulla hay (Kadi et al, 2011), whole maize plants (Martínez et al, 2006), green barley (Morales et al, 2009). The results of the experiments in which forages were not mixed as a balanced pelleted diet showed low productive performance (Carabaño and Fraga, 1991).…”

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

“…Scientists have tested several forages: dehydrated alfalfa on carcass traits and meat quality (Bianchi, Petracci, & Cavani, 2006), fresh alfalfa on carcass traits and fatty acid (FA) profile (Capra et al, 2013), or on FA profile (Dal Bosco et al, 2014), and green barley on dressing out percentage (Morales, Fuente, Juárez, & Ávila, 2009).…”