Slaughter performance and meat quality of three Italian chicken breeds

A trial was carried out to study the slaughtering performance and the meat quality of three Italian dual-purpose chicken breeds: Ermellinata di Rovigo (ER), Robusta lionata (RL) e Robusta maculata (RM). Females were reared from June to October from 47 days of life until the slaughter age, at 138 (I age) and 168 (II age) days of age. Each genotype had access to outdoor and indoor spaces. RL and RM birds showed higher final body weight, and gave heavier carcass and commercial cuts than ER (P<0.01), at both ages. Dressing percentage of RL and RM females was more favourable than ER ones, in particular at II age (P<0.01). Differences in carcass conformation were observed at II age: the ER carcass showed higher (P<0.01) incidence of hindleg and wing. The RM carcass had higher (P<0.01) proportion of breast. The thigh:bone ratio was higher in RL at I age (P<0.01) and II (P<0.05) age. Significant differences in breast colour were observed among the breeds; ER thigh showed the highest a* value. At II age, lipids were lower (P<0.01) in ER breast and higher (P<0.05) in thigh meat. Slaughtering at I age seem to be more advantageous for the ER breed since it is more precocious.