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ESTIMATION OF SLAUGHTER PARAMETERS FOR ETHIOPIAN ARSI CATTLE AT ADAMA CITY ABATTOIR
This study was conducted in 2011 on 72 live animals and carcass samples of Arsi breed cattle slaughtered in Adama city’s municipality abattoir with objective to estimate slaughter parameters i.e., heart girth (HG), slaughter weight (SW), carcass weight (CW) and dressing percentage (DP). Breed and production system and age were identified by phenotypic traits and dentition development, respectively. HG, SW and CW were significantly different across age groups (P < 0.05) but significant difference was not observed due to production system differences (P > 0.05). Experimental animals had mean HG, SW, CW and DP of 164.87±9.03cm, 308.64±44.32kg, 163.13±29.09kg and 53.15±5.75% respectively. There was strong and weak positive correlation between carcass weight and heart girth (r = 0.67) and between slaughter weight and dressing percentage (r = 0.17,) respectively. Further studies maybe needed to confirm the present findings.
Keywords: Heart girth; slaughter weight; carcass weight
