Effect of Slaughter Weight on Carcass Characteristics of Baggara Bulls

Abstract

Eighty Western Sudan Baggara bulls of live weight ranging between 200 and 400 kg were chosen to study the effect of slaughter weight on live body measurements and carcass characteristics. ivThe animals were divided into four groups of twenty animals each according to their slaughter weights (200- 250, 251- 300, 301- 350 and 351- 400 kg groups). The herd was fattened on concentrate diet consist of molasses (52%), wheat bran (39%), ground nut cake (5%), urea (3%), and common salt (1%), in addition to this concentrate diet sorghum straw was offered. The feed was offered at ratio of 80% concentrate and 20% sorghum straw. Fresh clean water was freely available for the animals. Slaughter weight for each animal was taken after an over night fast except for water. The slaughtering process was performed according to Muslim practice where the jugular veins, carotid arteries, esophagus and trachea were severed using a sharp knife. This study showed that the live body measurements of the four groups increased significantly with increasing of slaughter weight. However, the difference between the two heavy weight groups (group 3 and group 4) was not significant (P>0.05). The empty body, hot and cold carcass weights increased significantly with increasing of slaughter weight. The dressing percentage of hot and cold carcass weights on empty and slaughter weights basis have the same trend. The weights of the external and internal non-carcass components increased significantly (P<0.05) as the slaughter weight increased. The percentages of these non-carcasses from the empty body weight and that of the gut fill from the slaughter weight decreased as the slaughter weight increased. The shrinkage was not affected (P>0.05) by increase in slaughter weight. The linear carcass measurements increased significantly (P<0.05) with the increase of slaughter weight. However, leg length, barrel circumference and chest circumference measurements showed non significant differences (p>0.05) between groups 4and 3 and between groups 3and 2. vThe percentages of all of the wholesale cuts decreased significantly (P<0.05) with increase of the slaughter weight except thin ribs, extended roasted ribs, brisket, hind quarter flank and rump those showed no significant differences(p>0.05) between the slaughter weight groups. When the weight of the wholesale cuts were regressed on the carcass weight, chuck and blade had the fastest relative growth coefficient (1.39± 0.05) while the leg had the slowest relative growth coefficient (0.65±0.03). The relative growth rate of the neck, thick ribs, thin ribs, extended roasted ribs and hind quarter flank slightly exceeded the relative growth rate of the whole carcass (ranging between 1.02 – 1.31). ‫الرحيم‬ ‫الرحمن‬ ‫ال‬ ‫بسم‬ ‫الخلصة‬ ‫بين‬ ‫أوزانها‬ ‫تراوحت‬ ‫والتي‬ ‫السودان‬ ‫بغرب‬ ‫تعيش‬ ‫التي‬ ‫البقاره‬ ‫ثيران‬ ‫من‬ ‫رأس‬ ‫ثمانون‬ ‫اختيارعدد‬ ‫تم‬ ‫الدراسة‬ ‫لهذه‬ ‫هذه‬ ‫قسمت‬ . ‫الذبيحة‬ ‫وخصائص‬ ‫الخارجية‬ ‫الجسم‬ ‫مقاييس‬ ‫الذبحعلي‬ ‫وزن‬ ‫تأثير‬ ‫لدراسة‬ ‫وذلك‬ ‫كيلوجرام‬ 400 ‫و‬ 200