Effect of sex on carcass characteristics of Siruvidai chicken in Tamil Nadu

Abstract

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of sex on carcass characters of Siruvidai chicken in Tamil Nadu. A total of fifty birds, comprising 25 males and 25 females, were randomly selected for slaughter purpose at 8 months of age, following NBAGR (2016) guidelines. All birds were reared under a backyard management system with free access to supplemental scavenging. Their diet primarily consisted of locally available feed ingredients, including maize, cumbu, and broken rice, along with scavenged feed resources. The parameters assessed during the study namely, New-York dressed weight, eviscerated carcass weight, ready-to-cook weight, dressing percentage, abdominal fat weight, giblet yield, meat-to-bone ratio, and various cut-up parts. Results showed that significant (p?0.05) differences were observed in males on various carcass traits when compared to females. Significant (p?0.05) differences were observed in pre-slaughter body weight, eviscerated carcass weight, ready-to-cook weight, abdominal fat weight, giblet yield, meat-to-bone ratio, drumstick yield, and thigh yield in males than female.