Slaughter age and productive traits at slaughter in males of an experimental three-way cross of free-range chickens

Abstract

Campero chicken is a type of slow-growing bird, with a good develop-ment of breast muscles, which according to the certification protocol must be slaughtered between 75 and 90 days of age. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of age at slaughter (70, 77, 84 and 91 days) on carcass yield, the propor-tion of valuable cuts (breast with bone and drumstick and thigh), the proportion of abdominal fat and the quality of breast meat (dry matter content, water retention capacity, cooking loss and tenderness) in male chickens of the three-way exper-imental cross Campero Casilda. Simulating the criterion that would be used by a family producer, the choice of the birds to be sacrificed (n = 12 per age group) was carried out through directed sampling, choosing, at each age, the heaviest birds of the population in the previous week. Slaughter age affected live body weight at sacrifice, eviscerated body weight; breast and abdominal fat proportions and carcass yield. Neither drumstick and thigh proportion nor the indicators of breast meat quality were affected. Statistically significant effects were observed only on dry matter content, which was somewhat higher than values reported for com-mercial broilers. Modification of slaughter age allows the producer to dispose of birds of different body weight with minor impact on carcass yield and without affecting breast meat quality.