Ann. Méd. Vét., 2003, 147 (6), pp 423 - 431 Fattening of Belgian Blue double-muscied culled females: animal performance, carcass characteristics and meat qualityCabaraux J.-F., Hornick J.-L., Dufrasne I., Clinquart A., Istasse L.Abstract :
In order to measure Animal performance and, carcass and meat characteristics of Belgian Blue double-muscled culled females, a fattening trial was carried out on a total of 78 animals. Fifteen females were slaughtered at the beginning of the trial and 63 were fattened on a maize silage based diet. The initial average live weight was 571.2kg. The total fattening gain was 91.1 kg for a period of 91.4 days. At slaughter, the warm carcass weight was 405.9kg and the killing-out proportion 63.3%. The carcasses were characterised by a high proportion of muscles (67.6 %) and rather low proportions of adipose tissue (18.2 %) and bones (14.2%). The muscle and adipose tissue accretions were 36.0 and 28.2 kg. Meat was lean as indicated by high protein content (88.5 %) and low fat content (6.6%) in dry matter. A high proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids was also found (6.8 MOI %). Get the PDF Contact person : jfcabraux@ulg.ac.be |