Prediction of carcass weight at age of slaughtering in New Zealand rabbits from body measurements

Objective. Predicting carcass weight and yield in New Zealand white rabbits from body measurements. Materials and methods. In 100 New Zealand (NZ) commercially reared males of 60±3 days, with a 12-hour fast, the live weight (BW) was taken, length the dorsal (LD) and ventral (LV) body length, chest circumference (CC), loin length (LL), loin width (LW), chest width (CW) head width (HW) head length (HL), thigh circumference (TC), thigh length (TL), arm circumference (AR) and arm length (AL). The rabbits were euthanized, their carcasses weighed (CAW). Descriptive statistics and carcass yield (CAY) were estimated. A regression equation of the CAW and the CAY was established with the “Stepwise Regression” procedure and the correlation coefficients between the variables were estimated from the principal component analysis. Results. Variables in vivo were homogeneous with coefficients of variation of less than 20%. The CAY was 54.7±2.4%. The regression equation that best fit the CAW was Yi = 75.83+0.58BW-11.86HL (R2: 0.91; p<0.05) and the CAY was Yi = 49.23+0.21LD+0.25CC-0.64CW-0.57HL (R2: 0.20; p<0.05). Four components were determined that explain 69% of the variation. Head, loin, and arm measurements were the most important. The highest correlation found with the CAW was the BW (r=0.84; p<0.001). Conclusions. The CAY is similar to other NZs of similar age. Measurements in the live animal better predict CAW than CAY. These results can be used in animal genetic improvement programs.