Determination of slaughter and carcass traits in male Turkish Anatolian buffaloes at different slaughter weights (original) (raw)

2021, TURKISH JOURNAL OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES

Introduction About 30% of the Turkish population lives in rural areas of Turkey. The rapid increase in the population has brought about a need for an efficient and productive use of resources needed for human nutrition. Animal products play a key role in the nutrition of all age groups, especially of children. Therefore, for a healthy and balanced nutrition, relevant measures should be taken, welfare levels should be increased, and the quantity and quality of animal products should be improved in line with consumer demands. Together with increasing populations, consumer demands are also increasing in favor of preferred products [1]. A balanced and healthy nutrition is only possible when animal-originated proteins constitute 35%-40% of daily protein consumption [2]. Red meat consumption is increasing day by day in developing countries like Turkey. As a result, farmers and producers are moving towards alternative red meat production resources to meet such increasing demands [3]. Buffaloes raised in Turkey are called Anatolian buffaloes; they originated from Mediterranean buffaloes, a subgroup of water buffaloes [4]. According to data from 2018, the number of buffaloes in Turkey was 178,397. In the last 30 years, the buffalo population has decreased in the country. However, the number of buffalos is now continuously increasing in Turkey because of the support provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Annually, 1,118,695 tons of red meat is produced from important red meat production sources such as cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goats. The production sources are as follows: cattle (89.73%), sheep (9.01%), goats (1.21%), and buffalo (0.03%). In Turkey, the carcass weights of cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goats are, respectively, 296 kg, 214.9 kg, 21.6 kg, and 19.8 kg [5]. Annual red meat consumption per capita is 14.5 kg [6]. Worldwide, this quantity is 20.1 kg, and it is 50.4 kg in the USA, 34.2 kg in Canada, and 47.8 kg in Australia [7]. In other words, red meat consumption per capita in Turkey is lower than that of developed Abstract: Nowadays, deficits in red meat resources in Turkey are caused by the import of red meat from different countries. Anatolian buffaloes used in this research are a species that can contribute to red meat production in Turkey. This study was performed to determine the slaughter and carcass traits of Anatolian buffaloes at different slaughter weights. Twenty weaned male Anatolian buffalo calves of about 5 months old, at an average live weight of 100 kg, were used as the animal specimen in the present study. The calves were fed with 30:70 roughage (alfalfa hay = 18.07% crude protein, 2186.90 kcal kg-1 metabolic energy DM): concentrate feed (cattle fattening feed = 16.40% crude protein, 2696.94 kcal kg-1 metabolic energy DM). The calves were randomly distributed into 4 different slaughter weight (SW) groups of GI (200 kg; n = 5), GII (250 kg; n = 5), GIII (300 kg; n = 5), and GIV (350 kg; n = 5). The results showed that hot and cold carcass ratios (P < 0.01) and carcass chilling loss increased with increasing slaughter weights. Except for head, feet, and kidney weight, the differences in all of the other organ weights of the SW groups were not statistically significant. The differences in all of the investigated carcass measurements of the SW groups were detected to be significant (P < 0.05). Although total carcass conformation index values increased with increasing slaughter weights, only the differences in the carcass compactness values of the SW groups were statistically significant (P < 0.001). Except for chunk, short loin, sirloin, rump, and flank ratios, the differences in all of the other carcass section ratios of the SW groups were statistically significant (P < 0.05).