Gender and live weight on carcass and meat characteristics of donkeys

ABSTRACT: One hundred eighty-nine Catalan crossbreed donkeys (Equus africanus asinus) were used to evaluate the effect of gender (gelding, n=106; or female, n=83) and live weight at slaughter (LW) (kg, n=37) on carcass characteristics, non-carcass components and meat and fat color. Geldings had greater (P151kg). Meanwhile, the LW did not affect the color (L*, a* and b* values) of subcutaneous fat (P>0.05). These results suggested that both gender and live weight should be considered when producing meat from donkeys. It is advisable to use geldings weighing more than 126kg at slaughter to obtain the greatest weight and carcass yield.