Growth Performance, Carcass Composition and Tenderness of Meat in Male Layer-type Chickens Slaughtered at Different Age

An experiment with male layer-type chickens was carried out in the Institute of Animal Science-Kostinbrod, aiming to investigate their growth performance and carcass composition, as well cooking loss tenderness meat at age 5 9 weeks. The birds were reared controlled microclimate, initial stocking density 22 birds/m2. After weeks age, fragmentation applied it diminished 7 Chickens slaughtered 10 each group subjected analysis. average live weight 329 g, while old reached 1096 g. In order attain first slaughter (5 weeks) gained 294.03 g a feed conversion ratio 2.97, whereas for whole period 2.91. dressing percentage chicks 51.26%. For 77.62%. affected yield main components older had higher breast (P=0.0035) thighs (P<0.0001). both thigh younger measured Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) remained unaffected by slaughter. Its values classified from this trial “very tender”.