Table 4.
Effects of marketable ages on carcass characteristics of broilers on days 90 and 100.
| Marketing Ages | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Items | 90 d | 100 d | SEM | p-Value | |
| Follicle density (piece/cm2) | Back | 4.33 | 4.54 | 0.080 | 0.177 |
| Abdomen | 3.41 b | 3.97 a | 0.070 | <0.001 | |
| Skin color | L* | 72.37 | 72.62 | 0.276 | 0.656 |
| a* | 16.44 a | 11.74 b | 0.480 | <0.001 | |
| b* | 19.76 a | 15.87 b | 0.711 | 0.005 | |
| Spotted skin level proportions (%) | S | 37.93 | 13.33 | ||
| A | 17.24 | 33.33 | |||
| B | 24.14 | 33.33 | |||
| C | 20.69 | 20.00 | |||
a, b Within a row, for each factor, different superscripts indicate significant differences (p < 0.05). Data represent three replicates, with 60 birds per replicate (n = 180). L*: lightness; a*: redness; b*: yellowness. S: good, extremely sparsely spotted skin; A: fair, slightly spotted skin; B: poor, medium spotted skin; C: very poor, conspicuously spotted skin. SEM: standard error of the mean.