In this study, chemical compositions of black seed meals samples were determined. 18 male weaning Zandi lambs with an average body weight of 23.5 ±1.5 kg were used in a completely randomized design in three groups of six in individual pens. Experimental treatments were: 1) control (basal diet with 12% soybean meal and without black seed meal), 2) diet containing 6% soybean meal and 9% black seed meal and 3) diet containing 18% black seed meal and without soybean meal. The concentration of dry matter, crude protein, crude fat, NDF, ADF, ADIN, and crude ash of black seed meal samples were 97.53±0.58, 31.26±0.99, 15.16 ± 0.61, 25.95 ± 1.34, 14.2±0.80, 0.69±0.04 and 5.07 ± 0.24, respectively. Replacement of soybean meal with black seed meal in the diet of experimental lambs had no effect on final body weight, daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio, dry matter intake, dressing percentage, tail and total body fat deposition. Albumin and total protein were higher for lambs fed by diet containing 18 % black seed meal compared to other treatments (P <0.05). However, the concentration of blood triglyceride, cholesterol and urea nitrogen were not differed between experimental groups. The digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, crude fat and protein were not affect by feeding of experimental diets. It seems that black seed meal can be used in the diet of fattening lambs up to 18% without adverse effect on performance and nutrients digestibility of growing lambs.

The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of slaughter and carcass weight, age at slaughter and sex on the fatty acid profile of the Greek Boutsiko sheep breed. Twenty lambs (ten females and ten males) were examined. The lambs were slaughtered at the age of 48 days. Carcasses were chopped in nine specific cuts and a random sample of 100 g was taken from each cut, with a total of 180 samples. From every ground sample a quantity of 2 g was taken for lipid extraction and preparation of fatty acid methyl esters. To predict the relationship of age, sex and weight on saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) a path analysis was adopted which tests all regression equations simultaneously. Age at slaughter was assumed to have an indirect impact via slaughter weight and carcass weight. Findings suggest that the model which uses slaughter weight instead of carcass weight, predicts better the fatty acid composition of Boutsiko breed lambs. As to the nutritional quality of the meat, the PUFA / SFA ratio was found relatively low while the ratio ω-6/ω-3 PUFA, was acceptable for human healthy nutrition. The best fatty acid composition was found for leg, shoulder and racks. It was concluded that producers may increase the age of slaughter, but that should be combined with their engagement in low cost diet modifications so as to improve production and cost efficiency and at the same time retain the quality of lamb meat.

Use of selection in breeding flocks is one of the most efficient way to reduce the carcass fat content of ruminants. The depth of soft tissue over 12th rib, 13 cm from the dorsal midline in Live Moghani and Makui (including 200 male and female lambs 12±1 months of age) were measured using ultrasonic instrument and 22 gauge hypodermic needle. The height at wither, body lenght, heart girth, hip-bones distance and body diagonallenght were measured. All animals were slaughtred and carcass cut into joints and dissected. Physical carcass constituents (lean meat, subcutaneous fat, intramascular fat, total fat and fat-tail) and chemical compositions of soft tissue (protein, ether extract, ash and humidity) were measured. Breed and sex of the animals had a significant effect on physical constituents (p<0.01) but no significant effect on chemical compositions was detected. Breed of lambs had significant effect on most of the live animal body measurements. Moghani breed showed higher values in most of these traits than Makui. In each breed, sex had significant effect on body measurements (except hip-bones distance). Female lambs had thicker soft tissue depth than the male lambs. The physical compositions of carcass was affected (p<0.05) by breed except intramuscular fat and bone. Makui sheep had higher lean meat percentage than Moghani, but dressing percent, total fat percent and fat-tail percent were higher (p<0.05) in Moghani sheep. Fat-tail percentage in male lambs were higher (P<0.05) than females in both breeds. Moghani breed had higher protein and chemical fat percentages than Makui, but lower humidity and ash percentages. Lamb sex did not effect protein, chemical fat and ash percentages. There was a wide range of total carcass fat percent. By evaluating live animals, would select the parents with lower fat percent and affect the carcass components of offspring's.

Thequality of fish meat is affected by many factors including nutrition and food consumption. In this research, carcass quality of Pangassius hypopthalmus, with diet of Biomar, calf heart, Gammarus, Artemia, and Tubifex was studied. This study was counducted for 8 weeks and five treatments: treatment 1: Biomar, treatment 2: Calf heart, treatment 3: Gammarus, treatment 4: Artemia, treatment 5: Tubifex. The 450 fish with average weight of 0.63 g and average length of 3.79 cm was conducted in 5 groups and were cultured for 8 weeks. Amount of food required according to the weight of the biomass and 10 % of body weight four times a day in 8:00, 12:00, 16:00 and 20:00 h. Physico-chemical parameters such as oxygen, hardness, pH, temperature were at saturation, dh 350, 7.5-8 and 29±2 0C, respectively. To measure various factors including crude protein, crude fat and ash by semi-automatic and automatic machines soxhlet and electric furnace (temprature of 55oC for 6 hours) were used. The results showed that the quality of fish carcasses that percentage of carcass moisture and ash, there is a significant difference between treatments (P<0.05).

Carcass meat is sterile immediately after slaughtering, but surface contamination takes place during and after dressing. Slaughter processes have very important role in increase or decrease of microbial contamination. In this study, neck, posterior side of the foreleg, flank and rump sites of 10 beef carcasses were sampled with indirect swabbing method at post skinning, before trimming and post final washing, to evaluation of these operational steps effect on bacterial population. Bacteriological examination (aerobic plate counts at 37°C, Escherichia coli enumeration and Salmonella identification) were obtained from the samples. The results indicated that posterior side of the foreleg and trimming were the most contaminated site and stage for aerobic plate counts, respectively. Cold water washing of carcass has significant effect (p<0.05) on decrease of microbial population from neck and rump, but it was ineffective in removing microbial contamination. The posterior side of the foreleg was the most contaminated site for Escherichia coli and salmonella was detected only on trimming step of slaughtering. With due attention to low aerobic plate counts, Escherichia coli enumeration and absence of salmonella in samples after final washing, operating procedures are satisfactory in this bovine slaughterhouse.

To investigate the relationship between chemical composition of meat from the carcass cuts and the whole carcass, 48 nine-month-old randomly selected ram lambs of Ghezel and Mehraban (24 rams per breed) were used in a trial arranged as a 2x2 factorial experiment with two breeds and two feeding levels (high and low), in a completely randomized design. After 80 days, all animals were slaughtered and the right side of the carcass was cut into the leg, shoulder, back, neck, brisket and flap joints. Dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), crude fat and ash were determined in meat from individual cuts and combined meat of all cuts (carcass meat). In general, average meat composition was not significantly affected by breed, feeding level and their interaction. Significant correlations were found between chemical composition of meat in most carcass cuts and carcass meat. Carcass DM in Ghezel sheep was highly correlated (P<0.001) with shoulder (r=0.81) and back (r=0.74) meat DM. In Mehraban sheep, back meat DM showed the highest correlation with carcass meat DM (r=0.84, P<0.001). Back CP was significantly correlated with carcass meat CP in both breeds (r=0.80, P<0.001). Carcass meat fat was significantly (P<0.001) correlated with back fat in both Ghezel (r=0.76) and Mehraban (r=0.84). In Ghezel, correlation coefficients of carcass meat ash and other parameters were generally small and non-significant. In Mehraban, carcass meat ash showed a small correlation with shoulder ash (r=0.58, P<0.01) followed by back (r=0.49, P<0.05) and brisket ash (r=0.43, P<0.05). As a whole, chemical composition of the meat in the back joint showed the highest correlation coefficients with the corresponding parameters in the carcass, and may be used as a good predictor of carcass composition in these breeds. Regression analysis of the data indicated that percentages of fat and protein in back meat accounted for about 65% of total variation in carcass meat fat and protein.

The effect of daily oral administration of ephedrine (0, 1, 2, 4 or 8 mg kg-1 W0.75) on carcass characteristics of forty-four 2 yr old crossbred (Mehraban x Ghezel) fat-tailed ewes was studied. The ewes were fed a fattening ration, and received ephedrine by using a drenching gun for either 50 or 70 days. There was a significant interaction (P<0.05) between the dose and duration of the ephedrine treatment for crude protein and ether extract (crude fat) of the carcass meat (dry matter basis), leg meat and Longissimus dorsi area at the 12th rib. On day 70, ephedrine at a dose of 8 mg kg-1 W 0.75, resulted in an increase of 21.5% in crude protein, and a decrease of 16% in ether extract contents of the carcass meat (dry matter basis) as compared with the control group (P<0.05). After 70 days, all doses of ephedrine significantly increased the cross sectional area of the Longissimus dorsi muscle, as compared with the control ewes. The weight of leg meat as a percentage of slaughter weight was significantly increased on day 70 at 8 mg kg-1 W0.75. The data showed that ephedrine increased the protein, and decreased the fat content of the meat in crossbred fat-tailed ewe; a daily oral dose of 8 mg kg-1 W 0.75, administered for 70 days, was effective in changing carcass chemical composition.

This study aims to compare anatomies of Madagascar chickens (indigenous race and Starbro strain). With 8,262 individuals of either indigenous races or Starbro strain chickens raised in a suburban environment, the weights of different pieces of cut as well as the live weights before slaughter were determined. Results showed that breast development presents a positive linear relationship with thigh development for Starbro strain chickens (fast growing broiler) while the relationship between the two traits is negative for the indigenous races (slow growing chicken). Giblet proportions are similar between these two types of chicken. We found that slaughtering at 1,750g live weight (age 120 to 185 days) is profitable for indigenous race chickens (meat yield = 40.16%, breast yield = 18.10%, thigh yield = 20.15% and abdominal fat yield = 1.90%). For the Starbro strain, ideal weight at slaughter is 1,300-1,450 g, corresponding to 49 to 61 days of age (meat yield = 39.63%, breast yield = 17.85%, thigh yield = 20.27% and abdominal fat yield = 1.51%). The physical features of the cuts are similar between indigenous races and Starbro strain chickens

This study was conducted to investigate, effects of diets supplemented with methionine and/or garlic powder on performance and carcass composition of broiler chickens.540 day-old broiler chicks in a completely randomized design with 3×3 factorial arrangement (9 treatments and 4 replication) were fed with different levels of methionine including basal diet (without methionine addition), diet containing methionine recommended by NRC as well as 135% NRC, and different levels of antibiotic. Chicken in 52 days of age were slaughtered and their carcass were analyzed. Addition of methionine at 135% NRC level in diets increased breasts muscle weight (P<0.01). Diets supplemented with garlic powder resulted in significantly high breast muscle weight as compared with negative control (P<0.05). Diets supplemented with Garlic powder leads to significant decrease in abdominal fat pad. Methionine ´ antibiotic interaction in BD +Met +GAR showed highest and BD+GAR appeared with lowest abdominal fat pad (P<0.05).Methionine antibiotic interaction resulted as lowest tight muscle weight (P<0.05). In conclusion results from present study demonstrated that beneficial effects of methionine and/or garlic powder for improvement of broiler carcass quality.