Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXII, Issue 1
Written by Dragos Florin COSTACHESCU, Paul Corneliu BOIȘTEANU, Gabriel HOHA, Răzvan Mihail RADU-RUSU
Somatometry helps characterize morphological carcasses and their commercial classification. Research has revealed differences in age and sex, both in morphological aspects of the carcass and at slaughter. The measurements on the carcass at the 45-day-old youth showed differences in the size of the thigh, forefoot and forearm in favor of the cocks. The other dimensions, namely the length of the clavicular bone, the width of the casing and its angle as well as the perimeter of the casing had values in favor of the pucks. At the age of 60 days, the measurements showed small differences in the main measurements in the two sexes. It is noted the length of the carcass length that recorded different values in the two age periods, respectively in males, the values oscillated between 107.00 ± 0.71mm at 45 days and at 111.87 ± 1.71, at 60 days, and in females at 107.43 ± 2.12mm, at 123.88 ± 2.61mm, at the same time. Also, the perimeter of the carcass had different values at the two analyzed ages and by sex, so at 45 days the values were in males of 163.50 ± 1.01mm and 60 days respectively of 170.55 ± 1.11mm. In females the values were 170.00 ± 1.11 mm at 45 days and 174.75 ± 0.55mm at 60 days. At sacrifice the differences were determined both the age, sex, and quail weight. Sexual dimorphism is favorable to females, causing the results obtained at slaughter to favor both the weight of the carcasses and its anatomical portions. At the age of 60 days, was determined a higher amount of abdominal fat both females and males, respectively 5.33 ± 0.21 g in females and 3.66 ± 0.11 g in males. In adult quail, carcass dimensions recorded comparable values to those recorded in youth at the age of 60, while gender differences remained. At adult sacrifice, the live weight was over 300g in both genders, so in chickens it was 358.70 ± 7.19g and in males 316.40 ± 5.01 g. We have determined higher weights at the chest with bone and socket harvested from adults, compared to the youth, bouth males and females. We note in this category a beautifully conformed carcass, with a fat content of both the subcutaneous and the abdomen in a larger amount in females than in males, the cause being hormonal.
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