The present study was conducted to determine the best level of substitution of soybean meal by sunflower cake in diets for kids through the evaluation of quantitative carcass traits. Thirty-two Boer kids X 1/2 NDB (no defined breed), males, non-castrated, with 4 months of age and initial body weight of 15±3.2 kg, were randomly assigned to individual pens. The treatments contained four substitut...

Real-time ultrasonography (RTU) was used to measure the longissimus dorsi muscle (LM) volume in vivo and to predict the carcass composition of rabbits. For this, 63 New Zealand White × Californian rabbits with 2093±63 g live weight were used. Animals were scanned between the 6th and 7th lumbar vertebrae using an RTU equipment with a 7.5 MHz probe. Measurements of LM volume were obtianed both in...

Current methods of pricing live animals do not adequately recognize differences in carcass composition and therefore do not adequately relate consumer demands to producers. Pricing systems based on carcass merit will be necessary before this relationship can exist. In order for carcass merit pricing systems to be accepted, methods to estimate carcass composition must be both accurate and object...

and Implications Variance parameters including heritabilities, genetic and residual correlations are required for national cattle evaluation. There are huge amounts of data available for estimating such variance parameters for growth traits, but much less data is available for carcass traits. In this study, heritabilities and genetic correlations were estimated using restricted maximum likeliho...

The nutritional effects of sulla (Hedysarum coronarium L.) forage containing condensed tannins (CT) on growth of lambs, and carcass and meat quality were investigated. Thirty-two male Comisana lambs aged 100 ± 8 days weighing 19.0 ± 2.8 kg were fed fresh forage of sulla or CT-free annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam. subsp. Wersterwoldicum) for 49 days until slaughter; in addition, each lam...

The growth performance and the carcass and physical and chemical characteristics of the meat of 24 Landrace X Large White pigs were compared when reared under a free-range or a conventional housing system. The free-range pigs had lower feed intakes and slower growth rates than the conventionally housed pigs. The free-range pigs also had a lower P2 fat depth and therefore yielded a carcass with ...

Carcass-value marketing systems continue to demand the efficient production of lean pork. Unfortunately, some swine genotypes which provide a high percentage of carcass lean also tend to produce carcasses which are poor in overall quality. An increased incidence of soft carcass fat, which is seen in some lean genotypes, has been associated with mechanized processing difficulties and decreased c...

A bioeconomic model was developed to predict slaughter end points of different genotypes of feeder cattle, where profit/rotation and profit/day were maximized. Growth, feed intake, and carcass weight and composition were simulated for 17 biological types of steers. Distribution of carcass weight and proportion in four USDA quality and five USDA yield grades were obtained from predicted carcass ...