The experimental materials comprised 600 BIG-6 turkeys (360♂ and 240 ♀). Females were reared to 16 and males to 22 weeks of age. Day-old poults were sexed and randomly allocated to 16 pens (eight pens of males and eight pens of females, 45 males per pen and 30 females per pen). Starting from one day of age, the turkeys were weighed at two-week intervals, and starting from two weeks of age, three birds selected randomly of each pen (24♂ and 24 ♀) were slaughtered at two-week intervals. Chilled carcasses were divided into parts (neck, legs, wings, breast and back) which were dissected to separate lean meat, skin with subcutaneous fat, inter-muscular fat, and bones. At two weeks of age, in both males and females, over 76% of the total muscle content was found in the breast and legs, and the remaining meat was located in the wings, back and neck. Until 16 weeks of age in males and until approximately 12 weeks of age in females, the rate of muscle deposition in the legs and wings was relatively slow, while a faster rate of muscle deposition was observed in the breast and back. Age-related changes in the distribution of skin with fat in turkey carcasses were greater than changes in muscle distribution. The content of skin with fat increased considerably in the breast in males and in the legs in females, while it decreased in the wings. The bone content of carcass parts changed to the lowest degree in growing turkeys.
JavaScript jest wyłączony w Twojej przeglądarce internetowej. Włącz go, a następnie odśwież stronę, aby móc w pełni z niej korzystać.