Effect of diet, slaughter weight and sex on instrumental and sensory meat characteristics in rabbits

The effect of the fattening diet, slaughter weight and sex on meat quality was studied in a total of 156 hybrid rabbits. After weaning, rabbits were divided into three groups of 52 animals each (50% male and 50% female), that were allocated for three weeks to one of three commercial diets containing low (14.28%, A), medium (18.04%, B) and high (20.48%, C) fibre content with decreasing energy levels. Animals were slaughtered at 2.0 and 2.3 kg after the consumption of a common pre-slaughter non-medicated concentrate and pH, colour, water-holding capacity (WHC), Warner–Bratzler shear test and sensory analysis were all measured. Meat from animals fed with low fibre and high energy was the least luminous. Rabbits slaughtered at 2.0 kg showed more yellowness than at 2.3 kg at 0 min. In both traits, these differences did not prevail after 15 min of blooming. Globally, meat from males was more coloured than that of the females, both at 0 and 15 min of blooming. No significant differences were found for pH, WHC or shear test for the individual effects. In the sensory analysis, rabbit and grass odours were more intense at 2.0 kg than at 2.3 kg of slaughter weight.