Influence of slaughter age on carcass composition and beef yield of white Fulani cattle

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of age and body weight on carcass composition of white Fulani cattle raised n Akwa Ibom State University, Obio Akpa, Nigeria. Nine male white Fulani cattle were used for the study, which were categorized into three age groups (3 – 3.5, 4 – 5 and 5.5 – 6.5 years) respectively. Data on the animal carcass composition and external offal (slaughter weight, carcass weight (CW) and dressing percentage) were obtained, predicting model for carcass composition were also generated. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance. The results indicated that means for dressing percentages for the three age groups were 52.93 ± 1.18, 51.84 ± 0.53 and 53.92 ± 0.76 respectively. The results also indicated that age had significant influence (p<0.05) on live weight (LW), carcass composition and some external offal. The correlation between LW and carcass compositions were high with correlation coefficient ranging from 0.64 – 0.97, 0.90 – 1.00 and 0.71 – 0.99 for age groups 3 – 3.5 years, 4 – 5 years and 5.5 – 6.5 years respectively. However, the correlation between age, carcass composition and external offal were also positively high with correlation coefficient ranging from 0.50 – 1.00, 0.84 – 1.00 and 0.78 – 0.96 respectively across the different age group. Thus, this study revealed a strong and positive (p<0.001) relationship between animal age, LW, carcass composition and some external offal. The present study could be used as reliable indices for carcass composition and some external offal prediction or estimation as age strongly influenced animal LW and carcass trait.