Abstract
Two experiments were conducted in order to compare carcass characteristics of five selected rabbit strains. Three of these lines are selected on litter size at weaning (Lines A, P and V, considered as dam lines), and the other two strains are selected on growth rate (lines C and R). Lines A, R and V were included in Experiment 1 (E1). Slaughter criterion was liveweight (around 2000 g). In Experiment 2 (E2) animals came from lines C, P, R and V, and they were processed at a fixed age (60 days). Line R reached the commercial liveweight a week before lines A and V in E1. In E2, liveweight of line R was higher than in line C (313 g), and than in lines V and P (510 and 508 g). Adjusting to a constant liveweight, in both experiments the gastrointestinal tract in line R was 11% heavier than the average of the others. As a result, dressing and dressing out percentages were lower. Dressing out percentages were over 57% in the other lines. Fat content (expressed as perirenal fat weight and adjusted to a constant reference carcass weight) of line R was the lowest in both experiments. In E1, line V (15.9 g) had the heaviest fat deposits and line A was intermediate (14.6 g). In E2, line C (23.3 g) had the highest perirenal fat weight, followed by dam lines (line V (20.5 g) and line P (19.9 g)). In E1 the lowest hind part weight (adjusted to a constant reference carcass weight) corresponded to line R and the highest to line V. In E2 this part was heavier in line V than in lines R and C. These results revealed that line R was less mature than the others at slaughter. When dam lines were compared for maturity at slaughter, only small differences were found in Experiment 1. Overall, the results showed that line R, selected on growth rate for twenty generations, showed the most important differences compared to the other lines. In E2, liveweight of line C was 10% higher than in lines V and P, and the fat content was the heaviest. Models of analyses including covariates had an excellent behaviour despite the wide range of values in E2.
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