Influence of gas stunning and halal slaughter (no stunning) on rabbits welfare indicators and meat quality

Nakyinsige K 1 , Sazili AQ 2 , Zulkifli I 3 , Goh YM 4 , Abu Bakar F 5 , Sabow AB 6

Affiliations 

  • 1 Halal Products Research Institute, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Islamic University In Uganda, 2555 Mbale, Uganda
  • 2 Halal Products Research Institute, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Electronic address: awis@upm.edu.my
  • 3 Halal Products Research Institute, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 4 Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Veterinary Preclinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 5 Halal Products Research Institute, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 6 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Animal Resource, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Salahaddin, Karkuk Street, Runaki 235 n323, Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Meat Sci, 2014 Dec;98(4):701-8.
PMID: 25089797 DOI: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2014.05.017

Abstract

This study assessed the effect of gas stunning which has not been conducted until now in comparison with slaughter without stunning on the welfare and meat quality of rabbits. Eighty male New Zealand White rabbits were divided into two groups of 40 animals and subjected to either halal slaughter without stunning (HS) or gas stunning using 61.4% CO2, 20.3% oxygen and 18.3 % nitrogen (GS). Analysis of the sticking blood revealed that both slaughter procedures caused a substantial increase in the levels of catecholamines, hypercalcemia, hyperglycemia, lactic acidemia and an increase in enzyme activities. The ultimate pH of the Longissimus lumborum muscle did not differ between treatments. GS exhibited higher lightness and cooking loss, and lower glycogen and MFI than HS. This indicates that both GS and HS can be significant stressors although the amount of stress may be below the threshold to negatively affect rabbit meat quality.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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