Table 4.
Effect of dietary supplementation of AA, OPE and TPE on carcass characteristics of growing rabbits at 13 weeks of age.
| Items | Experimental Diets | p-Value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control | AA | OPE | TPE | ||
| Pre-slaughter weight (g) | 1913.3 ± 43.72 | 2066.7 ± 79.63 | 2140.0 ± 73.65 | 2158.3 ± 119.03 | 0.2280 |
| Hot carcass weight (g) | 1136.67 b ± 33.33 | 1305.0 a ± 40.10 | 1363.33 a ± 31.79 | 1278.33 a ± 31.66 | 0.0015 |
| Dressing (%) | 59.41 ± 1.28 | 63.14 ± 1.77 | 63.71 ± 0.86 | 59.23 ± 3.10 | 0.3104 |
| Liver (%) | 3.93 ± 0.59 | 5.26 ± 0.58 | 3.81 ± 0.26 | 3.88 ± 0.16 | 0.1410 |
| Heart (%) | 0.35 ± 0.07 | 0.39 ± 0.10 | 0.31 ± 0.07 | 0.31 ± 0.08 | 0.8994 |
| Kidneys (%) | 0.87 ± 0.10 | 0.82 ± 0.11 | 0.77 ± 0.07 | 0.70 ± 0.03 | 0.5670 |
| Spleen (%) | 1.62 ± 0.59 | 1.98 ± 0.30 | 1.94 ± 0.21 | 1.81 ± 0.43 | 0.9226 |
| Cecum (%) | 16.48 ± 0.90 | 13.34 ± 0.41 | 13.36 ± 1.83 | 11.99 ± 0.27 | 0.0795 |
| Kidneys fat (%) | 0.93 a ± 0.11 | 0.66 b ± 0.08 | 0.47 c ± 0.03 | 0.44 c ± 0.07 | 0.0006 |
| Abdominal fat (%) | 0.92 a ± 0.08 | 0.62 b ± 0.02 | 0.11 c ± 0.02 | 0.17 c ± 0.04 | 0.0003 |
| Back fat (%) | 0.54 a ± 0.04 | 0.46 b ± 0.003 | 0.38 bc ± 0.01 | 0.33 c ± 0.04 | 0.0054 |
| Edible giblets (%) | 5.16 ± 0.54 | 6.47 ± 0.58 | 4.89 ± 0.40 | 4.88 ± 0.25 | 0.1223 |
| Total edible parts (%) | 64.62 ± 1.68 | 69.69 ± 1.78 | 68.65 ± 0.99 | 64.48 ± 3.32 | 0.259 |
| Total non-edible parts (%) | 35.38 ± 1.69 | 30.31 ± 1.79 | 31.35 ± 0.99 | 35.52 ± 3.32 | 0.2594 |
AA = ascorbic acid, OPE = orange peel extract, TPE = tomato pomace extract. Edible giblets (%) = (liver (g) + kidney (g) + heart (g)/pre-slaughter weight (g)]*100%; total edible parts (%) = (carcass weight (g) + weight of edible giblets (g)/pre-slaughter weight (g)*100%. a,b,c Means with different superscripts in each raw differ significantly (p < 0.05).