Effect of sex and slaughter age on carcass and meat quality of brown hares (L. europaeus)

The present study aimed at evaluating slaughter results, carcass traits and meat quality in 48 farmed brown hares (L. europaeus) of both sexes slaughtered at two ages (sub-adult hares, on average 73 d of age, vs. adult reproducing hares, on average 17 months) in a commercial slaughterhouse and then dissected following standardized procedures for rabbits. At slaughter, the females were heavier than the males (2783 vs. 2629 g; P<0.05), showed higher full gut incidence (13.7 vs. 12.9%; P<0.05), lower skin and feet incidence (13.3 vs. 14.0%; P<0.01), and lower dressing percentage (66.7 vs. 67.6%; P=0.06). The carcasses of females had lower dissectible fat (1.34 vs. 2.17%; P<0.05) and higher proportion of both l. lumborum (14.3 vs. 13.8%; P<0.05) and hind legs (37.2 vs. 36.4%; P=0.06). When age increased, slaughter live weight (2022 to 3391 g) and carcass weight increased (P<0.001), but dressing percentage did not vary (67.2% on average); the full gut incidence decreased (14.5 to 12.1%; P<0.001), whereas skin and feet proportion increased (12.9 to 14.5%; P<0.001). When age increased, head, liver and thoracic organs proportions decreased (P<0.001); dissectible fat (1.34 to 2.17%; P<0.05) and l. lumborum (13.5 to 14.5%; P<0.001) increased; moreover, hind legs proportion decreased (37.3 to 36.3%; P=0.01) but the muscle to bone ratio of hind legs increased (5.11 to 6.23; P<0.001). Meat quality did not vary with gender, whereas sub-adult animals significantly differed (P<0.001) from adults, showing lower meat pH, higher lightness index, higher redness index for l. lumborum (3.03 to 1.46) and lower redness index for b. femoris (4.07 to 5.76); besides they had higher meat thawing losses and lower shear force measured on the hind leg (2.97 to 4.02 kg/g; P<0.001). In conclusions, hare slaughter and carcass traits differed according to both sex and age, whereas meat quality was affected only by age.