Effects of feed restriction on the slaughter performance, antioxidant activity, and meat quality of rabbits

Qi Lu; Jixiao Qin; Shuanglong Xie; Rui Chen; Yiqing Xu; Xu Wang; Di Zhou; Xingzhou Tian

doi:10.26599/FSAP.2024.9240080

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Research Article | Open Access

Effects of feed restriction on the slaughter performance, antioxidant activity, and meat quality of rabbits

Qi Lu^¹, Jixiao Qin^¹, Shuanglong Xie^¹, Rui Chen^¹, Yiqing Xu^¹, Xu Wang^¹, Di Zhou^²(), Xingzhou Tian^¹()

1Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction in the Plateau Mountainous Region, Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China

2Guizhou Testing Center for Livestock and Poultry Germplasm, Guiyang 550018, China

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of feed restriction on the slaughter performance of rabbit, and antioxidant activity, chemical composition, physical characteristics, amino acid, fatty acid, and volatile compound contents of rabbit meat. A total of 48 male rabbits with similar body weights were randomly allocated into two equal treatment groups: the control group, which received ad libitum access to the feed (AL), and the treatment group, which received 80% of the feed consumed by the control (FR). The results indicated that there were no significant differences in the slaughter performance parameters between the two groups (P > 0.05). Compared with the AL treatment, the FR treatment significantly increased muscle superoxide dismutase activity, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity, and crude protein content (P < 0.05), whereas it significantly decreased the content of malondialdehyde, water loss rate, and shear force (P < 0.05). Compared with those in the AL treatment group, the rabbits in the FR treatment group presented significantly greater levels of threonine, glutamate, alanine, tyrosine, histidine, proline, and total amino acids (P < 0.05). Moreover, the AL treatment resulted in significantly greater concentrations of C_16:0, C_16:1, C_{18:1 n-9c}, and monounsaturated fatty acids (P < 0.05), whereas it resulted in significantly lower levels of C_{18:2 n-6c}, C_{20:4 n-6}, and polyunsaturated fatty acids than the FR treatment did (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the FR treatment resulted in significantly greater levels of benzaldehyde, octanal, decanal, hexadecane, carbamodithioic acid diethyl-methyl ester, 2-heptanone, N-ethyl-ethanamine, dimethyl sulfone, and N,N-diethyl-formamide than did the AL treatment (P < 0.05). Overall, mild feed restriction can increase meat quality by increasing muscle antioxidant activity and improving the physical characteristics, amino acid, fatty acid, and volatile compound contents of rabbits under the conditions of this experiment.

Keywords

rabbit feed restriction slaughter performance antioxidant activity meat quality

References

[1]

R. Bergaoui, M. Kammoun, K. Ouerdiane, Effects of feed restriction on the performance and carcass of growing rabbits, Nutr. Dig. Physiol. 41 (2008) 547–550.

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[2]

M. Birolo, G. Xiccato, F. Bordignon, et al., Growth performance, digestive efficiency, and meat quality of two commercial crossbred rabbits fed diets differing in energy and protein levels, Animals 12(18) (2022) 2427. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12182427.

Ingredients	Content (%)	Chemical composition	Content
Note: Values represent the means of three replicates (n = 3). Compound premix contained per kg were as followed: vitamin D₃ 10 KIU; vitamin A 150 KIU; vitamin E 300 IU; vitamin B₃ 300 mg; vitamin K 20 mg; folic acid 4 mg; biotin 1 mg; calcium pantothenate 200 mg; I 3.5 mg; Fe 1 500 mg; Mn 500 mg; Cu 300 mg; Zn 1 500 mg.
Corn	23.66	DM (%)	89.43
Soybean meal	6.65	CP (% of DM)	16.35
Rapeseed meal	3.22	GE (mJ/kg)	15.22
Cottonseed meal	3.15	Neutral detergent fiber(% of DM)	34.85
Wheat bran	15.84	Acid detergent fiber(% of DM)	21.36
Alfalfa	42.48	Ash (% of DM)	9.72
Calcium hydrogen phosphate	0.40
Salt	0.35
Stone powder	0.25
Compound premix	4.00

Slaughter performance	AL	FR	SEM	P value
Note: AL, rabbits were fed ad libitum level; FR, rabbits were fed 80% ad libitum level; SEM, standard error of mean.
Carcass yield
PSW (g)	2 685	2 757	93.514	0.593
SW (g)	303	298	7.239	0.592
HBW (g)	1 840	1 851	49.842	0.883
HBR (%)	68.50	67.69	1.314	0.665
FBW (g)	1 364	1 347	38.263	0.744
FBR (%)	50.78	49.25	1.048	0.314
Visceral organ
Heart weight (g)	7.35	7.47	0.275	0.763
Heart relative weight (%)	0.273	0.275	0.011	0.907
Liver weight (g)	60.36	59.28	3.107	0.809
Liver relative weight (%)	2.24	2.20	0.123	0.817
Spleen weight (g)	1.41	1.45	0.140	0.836
Spleen relative weight (%)	0.053	0.054	0.006	0.894
Lung weight (g)	22.33	20.63	1.707	0.487
Lung relative weight (%)	0.832	0.749	0.059	0.326
Kidney weight (g)	14.83	15.25	0.488	0.552
Kidney relative weight (%)	0.552	0.563	0.022	0.722

AAs	AL	FR	SEM	P value
Note: In the same row, values with different lowercase letter superscripts mean significant difference (P < 0.05). AL, rabbits were fed ad libitum level; FR, rabbits were fed 80% ad libitum level; SEM, standard error of mean.
Asp	7.18	7.34	0.070	0.178
Thr	3.52^b	3.75^a	0.051	0.032
Ser	3.74	3.78	0.035	0.433
Glu	12.48^b	13.77^a	0.136	0.003
Gly	3.71	3.82	0.066	0.299
Ala	4.66^b	4.83^a	0.039	0.038
Val	4.12	3.90	0.063	0.064
Met	1.76	1.79	0.037	0.511
Ile	3.70	3.73	0.056	0.718
Leu	6.84	6.70	0.115	0.446
Tyr	2.31^b	2.86^a	0.054	0.002
Phe	3.56	3.71	0.048	0.093
His	2.21^b	2.40^a	0.033	0.015
Lys	7.42	7.44	0.069	0.801
Arg	5.37	5.29	0.041	0.247
Pro	2.75^b	3.11^a	0.061	0.014
TAAs	75.49^b	78.07^a	0.254	0.002

FAs	AL	FR	SEM	P value
Note: In the same row, values with different lowercase letter superscripts mean significant difference (P < 0.05). AL, rabbits were fed ad libitum level; FR, rabbits were fed 80% ad libitum level. SFA, saturated fatty acids; MUFA, monounsaturated fatty acids; PUFA, polyunsaturated fatty acids. nd, not detected; SEM, standard error of mean.
C_12:0	0.19	0.15	0.015	0.135
C_14:0	3.39	3.58	0.102	0.254
C_15:0	0.78	0.76	0.015	0.282
C_16:0	29.72^a	29.00^b	0.149	0.027
C_16:1	2.86^a	2.31^b	0.065	0.004
C_17:0	0.30	0.32	0.032	0.721
C_18:0	5.65	6.08	0.413	0.499
C_{18:1 n-9c}	21.21^a	19.43^b	0.172	0.002
C_{18:2 n-6c}	27.18^b	29.08^a	0.258	0.007
C_{18:3 n-6}	0.20	0.17	0.013	0.241
C_{18:3 n-3}	3.80	4.01	0.099	0.217
C_20:2	nd	0.11
C_{20:3 n-6}	0.34	0.34	0.007	0.589
C_{20:4 n-6}	3.94^b	4.21^a	0.040	0.009
C_{20:5 n-3}	0.12	0.14	0.014	0.534
C_{22:5 n-3}	0.23	0.24	0.015	0.681
C_{22:6 n-3}	0.080	0.077	0.004	0.607
SFA	40.03	39.89	0.432	0.827
MUFA	24.07^a	21.73^b	0.164	0.001
PUFA	35.90^b	38.38^a	0.352	0.008

Volatile compounds	Molecular formula	Relative molecular mass	Relative content (%)		SEM	P value
Volatile compounds	Molecular formula	Relative molecular mass	AL	FR	SEM	P value
Note: In the same row, values with different lowercase letter superscripts mean significant difference (P < 0.05). AL, rabbits were fed ad libitum level; FR, rabbits were fed 80% ad libitum level; SEM, standard error of mean.
Alcohols (3)
Ethanol	C₂H₆O	46.04	2.81	2.89	0.361	0.880
1-Octen-3-ol	C₈H₁₆O	128.12	4.49	3.27	0.945	0.414
2-Ethyl-1-hexanol	C₈H₁₈O	130.14	5.44	6.15	1.023	0.650
Aldehydes (8)
3-Methyl-butanal	C₅H₁₀O	86.07	0.37	0.49	0.108	0.458
2-Methyl-butanal	C₅H₁₀O	86.07	0.42	0.51	0.063	0.351
Hexanal	C₆H₁₂O	100.09	2.59	1.71	0.265	0.080
Heptanal	C₇H₁₄O	114.1	0.58	0.50	0.134	0.713
Benzaldehyde	C₇H₆O	106.04	0.60^b	0.93^a	0.079	0.041
Octanal	C₈H₁₆O	128.12	0.60^b	1.36^a	0.172	0.034
Nonanal	C₉H₁₈O	142.14	6.56	5.76	0.460	0.286
Decanal	C₁₀H₂₀O	156.15	0.22^b	0.67^a	0.061	0.006
Alkanes (4)
Tridecane	C₁₃H₂₈	184.22	0.35	0.31	0.056	0.612
Tetradecane	C₁₄H₃₀	198.24	13.14	12.22	1.398	0.664
Pentadecane	C₁₅H₃₂	212.25	1.57	1.72	0.136	0.504
Hexadecane	C₁₆H₃₄	226.27	3.32^b	4.28^a	0.184	0.022
Carboxylic acids (1)
Acetic acid	C₂H₄O₂	60.02	4.43	5.60	0.656	0.276
Esters (1)
Carbamodithioic acid diethyl-methyl ester	C₆H₁₃NS₂	163.05	7.81^b	10.19^a	0.595	0.047
Ketones (1)
2-Heptanone	C₇H₁₄O	114.10	0.22^b	0.55^a	0.043	0.005
Others (6)
N-Ethyl-ethanamine	C₄H₁₁N	73.09	6.71^b	10.27^a	0.850	0.041
Dimethyl sulfone	C₂H₆O₂S	94.01	3.96^b	7.47^a	0.787	0.035
N,N-Diethyl-formamide	C₅H₁₁NO	101.08	0.70^b	1.14^a	0.078	0.017
3-Ethyl-2,5-dimethyl-pyrazine	C₈H₁₂N₂	136.10	0.90	0.86	0.040	0.456
Benzenepropanenitrile	C₉H₉N	131.07	1.86	2.23	0.275	0.403
N,N-Dibutyl-formamide	C₉H₁₉NO	157.15	1.17	1.55	0.146	0.142