Table 2.
Live weight (LW), carcass weight (CW), dressing percentage (DP), carcass composition and first quality cuts incidence of foals fed with low nutritive level (150%), medium nutritive level (180%) and high nutritive level (200%)
| Nutritive level | Significance | SEM | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 150% | 180% | 200% | |||
| LW (kg) | 448.13 | 456.45 | 473.15 | n.s. | 12.15 |
| CW (kg) | 330.60 | 329.42 | 345.41 | n.s. | 5.83 |
| DP (%) | 73.71 | 72.60 | 72.99 | n.s. | 0.65 |
| Carcass composition (%) | |||||
| Fore quarter | 37.63A | 35.43A | 39.73B | *** | 0.33 |
| Hind quarter | 62.70A | 65.07A | 60.60B | *** | 0.49 |
| Lean | 78.96A | 74.48B | 74.73B | *** | 0.84 |
| Fat | 11.82A | 15.95Ba | 15.52Bb | *** | 0.12 |
| Bone | 9.25A | 9.55 | 9.77B | ** | 0.10 |
| First quality incidence (%) | |||||
| 1st quality† on carcass | 59.26 | 60.57 | 59.65 | n.s. | 0.51 |
| 1st quality on fore quarter | 55.13A | 55.78A | 49.15B | *** | 0.55 |
| 1st quality on hind quarter | 72.86A | 73.52A | 75.52B | * | 0.64 |
Significance: ***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05, n.s., not significant. †1st quality cuts: Steaks I-VIII, Loin + Steaks IX-XVIII, fore leg and tenderloin. Different letters in the same line show statistical differences (A, B: P < 0.01; a, b: P < 0.05).