Study On Meat Quality Of American Rex Rabbit

In this study, twenty health, 150 days old, nature herds American rex rabbit were selected randomly from Gansu Province Yong-deng County Shangchuan Runyuan Rex rabbits feed cooperative store as sample and ten Belgium rabbits under the same conditions were selected as comparison (half male and half female). They were butchered together, some traits such as slaughtered performance, edible quality, nutrition ingredient, fatty acid composition as well as heavy metal residue were tested and analysed. The results were showed that:1.The slaughter performances: The average live weight, carcass heavy, net meat heavy, slaughter rate, net meat rate, bone heavy, meat-bone ratio of 150 days old American rex rabbit were 1.99kg, 1.07kg, 0.84kg, 53.55%, 78.65%, 0.20kg, 4.27;The carcass heavy, slaughter rate and net meat heavy of male rabbit was lower than female rabbit significantly;The slaughter rate and meat-bone ratio of Belgium rabbit was higher than American rex rabbit significantly.2. Edible quality: The result of sensory score showed that, the sensory characteristics of American rex rabbit meat and Bglgium rabbit meat were basically same, have the characteristics of tender and juicy. Averageâ–³L values,â–³A values,â–³B values, pH1 values, pH24 values, drip loss , cooked meat percentage, water holding capacity, shear force values and diameter of muscle fiber form American rex rabbit respectively were 49.90, 11.69, 10.19, 6.74, 6.23, 2.36%, 66.77%, 82.12%, 2.675kg?f and 5.19um; drip loss and shear force values of male American rex rabbit was higher than female rabbit significantly, The water holding capacity was lower significantly; The drip loss of longissimusdorsi in American Rex rabbit was sigificantly higher than leg muscles, theâ–³A values, water holding capacity, cooked meat percentage, shear force values and diameter of muscle fiber was lower significantly.Compared to Bglgium rabbit, the American rex rabbit meat had thicker myofiber, higher shear force, but higher water holding capacity.3. Nutritional component: The contents of Moisture, protein, fat content and ash content were 73.36%, 23.97%, 1.10% and 1.16% ; Mineral such as K, Na, Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe were 133.65 mg/100g, 48.91 mg/100g, 22.66 mg/100g, 32.05 mg/100g, 0.46 mg/100g and 14.85 mg/100g; The contents of vitamin A, B₁, B₂, C, E and cholesterol were 0.29mg/kg, 86μg/100g, 134μg/100g, 0.82 mg/100g ,8.79 mg/kg and 63.82 mg/100g; The essential amino acids content was 80.91g/100g, EAA/TAA was 42.32%. Compared to Belgium rabbit meat, Na, Fe, Zn and vitamin A, B₂, C, E and EAA/TAA of American rex rabbits'were higher, the contents of K, Mg and cholesterol were lower. Above all the demonstrated that American rex rabbit had comprehensive nutrient content, rich amino acids and could provide abundant vitamin and minerals, had high protein, low fat, low cholesterol characteristic.4. Fatty acid component: The fatty acid in American rex rabbit meat mainly including nutmeg acid, fifteen silane acid, hexadecanoic acid, 7-hydroxy hexadecane acid, seventeen silane acid, stearic acid, 7-hydroxy 18 silane alkoxy acid, 19 silane acid and 20 silane acid. Saturated fatty acids were accounts for 93.04% of fatty acids, 3.16% higher than Belgium rabbit, hexadecanoic acid(42.18%) was the highest; The unsaturated fatty acid of American rex rabbit meat mainly including 5-methoxy-18 gadoleic acid and 6-methoxy-18 gadoleic, unsaturated fatty acids were accounts for 6.75% of fatty acids, 3.08% lower than Belgium rabbit.5. Heavy metal residue: The result showed that lead, mercury and arsenic according to the national criterion of GB18406.3-2001, which proves that the experiment field was a good environment, forage grass accords to the standard of green livestock breeding and the Rex rabbit meet food security standard.In this study, some traits such as slaughtered performance, nutritional component, edible quality, heavy metal residue as well as fatty acids component were tested and analyzed, and were compared with Belgium rabbit, systematically and comprehensively reflects meat quality of rex rabbit , to provide a basis for their industrialization and intensive processing of data.