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International Journal of Poultry Science

Year: 2019 | Volume: 18 | Issue: 6 | Page No.: 249-254
DOI: 10.3923/ijps.2019.249.254
The Positive Effect of Crossing Speckled Hungarian Breed with Commercial Lines in Term of Meat Production and Meat Quality
A. Drobnyak , T.N. Lan Phuong , M. Heincinger, K. Kustos, A. Almasi, I.T. Szalay, L. Bodi, R.T. Szabo and M. Weber

Abstract: Background and Objectives: The study aimed to investigate the meat production (live weight, carcass weight, breast fillet weight, leg weight) and quality (pH, colour, tenderness) of Speckled Hungarian chicken and grandparents’ line of TETRA-H, TETRA HARCO and their crossbreeds. Materials and Methods: A total of 1120 birds (7 genotypes, 4 pens/genotype, 40 birds/pen) were reared under the same conditions (5 birds/m2, ad libitum feeding, deep straw bedding) until the age of 84 days. Daily light was 16 h and dark cycle was 8 h. The temperature was maintained at 32°C at the start of the experimental period and gradually decreased to 20°C by the fourth week of age. Results: The live weight and carcass percentages of crossbreeds (2244 g, 73.0% for TETRA-H x Speckled Hungarian chickens and 2135 g, 72.3% for Speckled Hungarian chickens x TETRA-H) were significantly higher than Speckled Hungarian chickens (1339 g, 69.9 %). Although, carcass percentages of these genotypes were similar. The breast meat tenderness of TETRA-H×Speckled Hungarian chicken (1.92 kg) was significantly lower than that of Speckled Hungarian chickens (2.70 kg) and the other crossbreeds (3.10 kg for Speckled Hungarian chickens×TETRA-H, 2.81 kg for HARCO×Speckled Hungarian chickens and 2.96 kg for Speckled Hungarian chickens×HARCO). Conclusion: The results revealed that the reciprocal crossbred genotypes of TETRA-H and Speckled Hungarian have higher meat production and their meat quality remained the same as that of purebred Speckled Hungarian chickens.

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How to cite this article
A. Drobnyak, T.N. Lan Phuong, M. Heincinger, K. Kustos, A. Almasi, I.T. Szalay, L. Bodi, R.T. Szabo and M. Weber, 2019. The Positive Effect of Crossing Speckled Hungarian Breed with Commercial Lines in Term of Meat Production and Meat Quality. International Journal of Poultry Science, 18: 249-254.

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