Sexual Dimorphism in Bone Quality and Performance of Conventional Broilers at Different Growth Phases

Johanna Müsse, Helen Louton, Birgit Spindler and Jenny Stracke
Additional contact information
Johanna Müsse: Animal Health and Animal Welfare, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 6b, 18059 Rostock, Germany
Helen Louton: Animal Health and Animal Welfare, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 6b, 18059 Rostock, Germany
Birgit Spindler: Institute for Animal Hygiene, Animal Welfare and Farm Animal Behavior, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bischofsholer Damm 15, 30173 Hanover, Germany
Jenny Stracke: Institute of Animal Science, Farm Animal Ethology, University of Bonn, Endenicher Allee 15, 53115 Bonn, Germany

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-15

Abstract: The objective of this study was to analyze sexual dimorphism with regard to the bone quality of Ross 308 broilers. The relationship between carcass traits, performance and bone quality was analyzed. The effect of sex and age at slaughter was examined in four replicates, always on day 31 and day 38. The weight, length, minimum diameter and breaking strength of the tibiotarsi were measured to determine the bone quality. Female tibiotarsi were shorter, lighter and had a lower minimum diameter and breaking strength compared to male ones. The tibiotarsi of older broilers were found to show higher values in the three-point bending test. The effects on broiler performance were determined by measuring the live body weight, carcass and cut weights. The results demonstrate significant effects of the age at slaughter and the sex ( p < 0.001) on all measured parameters, with males always reaching higher values compared to females. A strong correlation of performance and bone parameters could be observed between live weight and weight of the tibiotarsi on both days of data collection. Therefore, it could be beneficial to raise female and male broilers separately. However, in order to make specific recommendations for practice, further knowledge is necessary.

Keywords: poultry; broiler; sexual dimorphism; carcass; performance; bone strength (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/8/1109/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/8/1109/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:8:p:1109-:d:873696

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().