A study of the relationship between body measurements, live weight and some slaughter traits of Western Sudan Baggara bulls

Abstract

The study was conducted to examine the relationships between live weight, hot carcass weight and external body measurements in order to predict the live and hot carcass weight of cattle by using estimate equations and also to examine the effect of slaughter weight on some other slaughter traits. A total of 101 Western Sudan Baggara bulls were grouped according to their slaughter weights into four groups: group A ranging from (200 to 250 kg), B (251 to 300 kg), C (301 to 350) and D (351 to 400 kg). of 15,30,33 and 23 animals, respectively. The following data were taken: Live animal weight, empty body weight, and carcass weight, dressing percentage, non-carcass components and a set of 10 external body measurements. The carcass was chilled to determine the degree of carcass shrinkage. The results indicated that empty body weight, carcass weight increased significantly (P>0.001) with the increase in slaughter weight. Chiller shrinkage decrease significantly (P>0.001) with increase in slaughter weight. The increase in slaughter weight produced a significant increase (P>0.001) in the percentage of omental fat. The percentage of head, hide, heart, spleen, kidneys and four feet decreased significantly with the increase in slaughter weight. It was observed that all the body measurements under study increased as slaughter weight increased. The results indicated that a high positive correction coefficient was obtained between live weight and heart girth (r = 0.87, P>0.001) and medium correlation coefficient obtained between live weight and chest depth (r = 0.77, P>0.001). VI The regression of live weight on heart girth indicated that a linear relationship existed. The regression equation for estimation of the live weight of Baggara cattle were as follows: y = 4.8805x – 432.27 where y = live weight (kg) x = heart girth (cm) The study revealed that heart girth had the highest correlation coefficient with hot carcass weight (r = 0.90, P>0.001). The regression analysis gave an estimate equation for carcass weight as follows: Y = 2.9635X – 293.36 where (Y) was hot carcass weight (kg) (x) was heart girth (cm) The above equations are recommended to estimate the live weight and hot carcass weight with a good accuracy.