Relationships between meat quality measurements in rabbits fed with three diets of different fat type and content

Two hundred and eighty-four, genetically similar (a three-way cross), young rabbits were fed ad libitum, from weaning, either a commercial diet (group C, ether extract 2.6%) or a diet containing vegetable fat (group V, ether extract, 9.9%) or animal fat (group A, ether extract 11.7%). A principal component (PC) analysis was performed with the variables: ultimate pH at 24 h post mortem measured in the longissimus dorsi (LD) and in the biceps femoris (BF) muscles, colour measured on the surface of the loin, fatty acid composition of perirenal fat, meat fat content of the hind leg, water holding capacity and cooking losses of the meat, and sensory variables determined by a trained panel test. The four first PC explained 62% of the total variation (27, 13, 11 and 11%, respectively). The first PC grouped the fatty acids, the second PC grouped the sensorial variables, and the third and fourth PCs grouped the pHs and the water holding capacity. The projection of the data in the first two PCs showed three separate groups of points. Animals fed with diet V were on the left side of the graph, where the variable C18:2 lies, whereas animals fed with diets A and C lay on the right side of the graph, where the saturated acids were grouped. These were slightly separated by the higher content of oleic acid in the animals fed with diet A. The second PC, where the sensorial variables were grouped, did not separate the animals fed with diets A, V and C. The diets used in this experiment had only a slight influence on the organoleptic characteristics of rabbit meat.