Three hundred twenty Cobb 500 broiler breeder pullets at 21 wk of age were selected from a flock fed according to Cobb Breeder Management Guide specifications. One hundred sixty pullets at 21 wk of age were switched to ad libitum feeding, and the remaining 160 pullets continued to be control-fed. The pullets were photostimulated at 22 wk and maintained until 36.5 wk. Plasma samples were obtaine...

an f2 japanese quail population was developed by crossing two strains (wild and white) to map quantitative trait loci (qtl) for performance and carcass traits. a total of 472 f2 birds were reared and slaughtered at 42 days of age. performance and carcass traits were measured on all of the f2 individuals. parental (p0), f1 and f2 individuals were genotyped with 3 microsatellites from quail chrom...

introduction one of the animal breeding aims is increasing the economic efficiency. therefore, mating among selected animals in order to enhance economic efficiency should also supply variation in population for next generations’ selection. this study was performed to estimate performance in cross breed lambs resulting from crosses of shal, moghani, afshari and varamini rams with varamini ewes,...

Carcass data from one side of 610 steers born from 1988 to 1990 in Cycle IV of the Germ Plasm Evaluation research program were analyzed to develop means for carcass traits and retail product percentages at two fat trim levels (.76 and .00 cm) by yield grade categories. Weights of subcutaneous (s.c.) fat and intermuscular (i.e.m.) fat were recorded separately at each trim level. Quadratic regres...

The objective of this study was to test and validate electromagnetic scanning of whole pork carcasses in an on-line, integrated, industrial configuration. The electromagnetic (EM) scanner was installed in two pork processing facilities (Plant A and Plant B). Plant A was a small pork fabrication plant that further processed chilled pork carcasses. Carcasses were delivered to Plant A by refrigera...

the diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 gene (dgat1) was identified as a strong candidate gene affecting mutton quality traits in sheep. single nucleotide polymorphism creates a single base mutation (c to t) in agct site of endonuclease alui. dgat1 is one of the candidate genes to improve carcass characteristics in feedlot animals. in order to study area t487c in exon 17 of the dgat1 polymorphism,...

The objective of this study was to estimate genetic and phenotypic correlations of body weight at 6 weeks of age (BW6), as well as final carcass yield, and moisture, protein, fat and ash contents, using data from 3,422 F2 chickens originated from reciprocal cross between a broiler and a layer line. Variance components were estimated by the REML method, using animal models for evaluating random ...

Several research trials have evaluated the impact of ractopamine (RAC, Paylean r , Elanco Animal Health) on barrows and gilts of various genetic populations (GP). Overall, the desirable response of RAC to increase daily carcass lean gain, improve feed efficiency, and increase carcass lean percentage has been observed in GP of substantially different lean growth rates and carcass lean percentage...

Retained heterosis for growth, carcass, and meat traits was estimated in F3 generation castrate male progeny in three composite populations finished on two levels of dietary energy density (2.82 Mcal of ME and 3.07 Mcal of ME and 11.50% CP) and serially slaughtered at four end points at intervals of 20 to 22 d. Breed effects were evaluated in nine parental breeds (Red Poll [R], Hereford [H], An...

A new carcass EPD has been developed for the American Angus Association’s National Carcass Evaluation Program. A percentage of retail product EPD combines the traditional carcass traits (hot carcass weight, fat thickness, ribeye area and KPH) into a composite EPD. Although the heritabilitty for this trait (.25) is not the highest for the carcass traits, it is high enough for breeders to make si...