Twelve barrow Iberian pigs with an average weight at slaughter of 109.2kg were used to evaluate bioelectrical impedance procedures to predict the body composition of live pigs. Twelve hours before slaughter pigs were weighed, and a four-terminal body composition analyser (Model BIA-101, RJL Systems, Detroit, MI) was utilized to determine resistance (R(s) in Ω) and reactance (X(c) in Ω). The len...

Little is known about the factors affecting leather and skin traits in ostriches. The effect of age on physical skin traits of slaughter ostriches was consequently investigated. Forty skins representing slaughter ages ranging from five to 14 months were selected to represent means of the respective age groups with regard to skin size and slaughter weight. It was evident that leather thickness i...

OBJECTIVE The death of animals during transport for slaughter is a major factor indicating the level of welfare in transported animals. The aim of this study was to assess mortality related to the commercial transport of finisher pigs for slaughter in the Czech Republic. METHODS The inspectors of the State Veterinary Administration of the Czech Republic recorded the numbers of finisher pigs t...

The objective was to investigate the effect of sex and slaughter weight on muscle fibre and meat quality traits of longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle in lambs. Used were 22 female and 30 male lambs of Polish Longwool sheep from two slaughter weight groups: I – 15-20 kg and II – 25-30 kg. LT muscle samples were taken to categorize fibre types (I, IIA and IIB) according to their NADHtetrazolium red...

Pre-slaughter conditions affect poultry meat quality. Therefore, stresses before slaughter like heat stress, struggle and shackling on the shackle line, crating and transport and feed withdrawal are very important for the poultry industry in respect of quality as well as welfare of the birds. However, exposure to heat in oxidative stress can in turn lead to cytotoxicity in meat type birds. Chic...

Economical and biological efficiencies of beef production to weaning and to slaughter were estimated in three groups, different in milk available (low, medium, and high) to the calves but with the same potential for growth. Data from different breed groups of cows (low [L] = Hereford x Angus, medium [M] = Red Poll x Angus, and high [H] = Milking Shorthorn x Angus) were used. Economical efficien...

One of the main objectives of selection for beef cattle is weight at slaughter. Live weights along growth are currently used as selection criteria under the hypothesis of a positive genetic correlation with weight at slaughter. In this study we have used data for weight at 120 (W120) and 210 (W210) days and at slaughter (WS) and the gain of weight between them (∆120-210 and ∆210-WS) in the Pire...

Due to an assembly line production and poor environment conditions in pig slaughterhouses, collection of slaughter tracing information is not a simple thing. Based on the UHF radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies, this study designed a RFID tag for carcass, a RS232-PS2 data conversion line and some data norms such as the RFID carcass tag and partition meat label norm, and developed...

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of municipal abattoir conditions and animal factors on avoidance-related behaviour (AB) of sheep at slaughter, bleeding times (BT) and mutton quality. The behaviour of 66 castrates and 19 ewes of different age categories was observed at three stages of slaughter. Higher behaviour scores indicated higher levels of AB. Time intervals between...

in this research the effect of two different methods of carcass chilling (immersion and evaporative) in the poultry industrial slaughter line on microbial load and carcass weight changes was studied. for sampling, after evisceration, each carcass weighted and rinsed with 250 ml of sterile water in a plastic bag. 25 ml of rinses water was taken and into sterile scaled container sent to laborator...