THE EFFECT OF HOUSING SYSTEM ON CARCASS TRAITS AND MEAT QUALITY OF RABBIT.

One hundred and sixty one weaned New Zealand White rabbits were housed in 0.4x0.4 m cages (3 rabbits/cage, 18.7 rabbits/m2) or in 3x3.3 m pen on deep litter (80 rabbits/pen, 8.1 rabbits/m2). At 13 weeks of age the pen-housed rabbits (n=52) had lower body weight (2318 vs 2437 g; P<0.01) and dressing percentage (59.8 vs 61.0 %; P<0.01), higher proportion of the fore part (32.3 vs 31.4 %; P<0.01) and hind part (40.3 vs 37.9 %; P<0.001), and lower proportion of the intermediate part of the carcass (27.5 vs 30.7 %; P<0.001) than the cage-housed rabbits (n=68). The percentage of perirenal fat was lower in the pen-housed rabbits (0.45 vs 0.83 % P<0.001) than in the cage-housed group. The meat on the hind legs (HL) and the m. longissimus dorsi (MLD) of pen-housed rabbits contained more water (HL: 75.0 vs 73.9 %; MLD: 74.6 vs 74.0 %; P<0.001) but less protein (HL: 21.3 vs 21.5 %; MLD: 23.6 vs 23.9 %; P< 0.05) and fat (HL: 2.48 vs 3.36 %; MLD: 0.65 vs 0.90 %; P<0.05) than those kept in cages. The housing system had no effect on ash content and pH value of the meat samples.