Evaluation of growth, carcass and meat quality of a two-way cross developed for rural poultry farming

Abstract

Background: Rural poultry farming with improved dual purpose chicken varieties is fast growing in the country. The meat quality of cocks and its acceptance by the consumer is important for its propagation as dual purpose variety. The two way cross produced by PD-1 xPD-4 (improved Aseel) was evaluated for growth, carcass and meat quality. Metohds: The growth, carcass and meat quality traits were evaluated in a two way cross developed and propagated for rural poultry farming at ICAR-Directorate of Poultry Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana. The data collected on 232 birds for growth, 40 birds for carcass and 20 birds for meat quality were utilized for the study. Result: The body weight and shank length significantly (P£0.05) differed between the sexes from six weeks onwards with higher (P£0.05) body weights and longer shanks in males. The six week body weight and shank length were 578.23±8.22g and 78.93±6.22 mm in males and 548.28±7.20 g and 76.15±5.28 mm in females, respectively. The Least squares means for body weight at 12 weeks of age in males and females were 1652.61±21.49 and 1367.86 ±14.99 g, respectively. Males had strong legs with significantly (P£0.05) high proportion of thigh meat. The effect of sex was non-significant on Dressing percentage (DP), neck, back and breast meat proportions. The DP was 71.12±0.22% in males and 72.51±0.43 % in females, respectively. The bone proportion was higher (P£0.05) in males. Abdominal fat proportion was significantly (P£0.05) higher in pullets. Feather proportion was higher (P£0.05) in males. Sex did not show any significant variation on the pH, Shear force value (SFV) and Hydroxy Proline (HP) values. The yellowness (b*) differed (P£0.05) between the sexes and it was lower in males. The fat and moisture content differed significantly (P£0.05) between the sexes. Fat proportion was higher (P£0.05) in females (3.57±0.05) than in males (2.97±0.01). Protein and ash proportions were similar in both the sexes. The sensory attributes ranged from 6.55 to 7.15 on an eight point scale in two-way cross meat indicating better consumer acceptability. The study concluded that, two-way cross with ideal growth, carcass and optimum meat quality and reasonable consumer acceptability may be a suitable variety for propagating in rural and tribal areas under free range backyard conditions.