Age-related changes in the percentage content of edible and nonedible components in turkeys

The total percentage content of edible and nonedible components in the carcasses of different poultry species is an important economic consideration. Age has a significant effect on the growth rate of birds and carcass tissue composition. The objective of this study was to determine age-related changes in the percentage content of edible and nonedible components in turkeys. The experimental materials comprised 2-wk-old Big 6 turkeys, raised to 20 wk of age (males) and 16 wk of age (females). The percentage content of edible components increased, and the percentage content of nonedible components decreased with age. The percentage content of edible components increased by approximately 20% in males (from 2 to 20 wk) and 25% in females (from 2 to 16 wk). At slaughter, 20-wk-old males were characterized by a higher content of edible components, compared with 16-wk-old females, because at 2 wk of age the proportion of nonedible components was 13.2% higher in females than in males. Among edible components, the content of muscle tissue and skin with subcutaneous fat increased, and the content of giblets decreased. The share of muscle tissue in the total BW of males and females increased by 20.5 and 21.9%, respectively. The share of skin with subcutaneous fat increased by 3.5% in males and 5.8% in females. The proportion of giblets decreased by around 4% in both males and females. The decrease in the percentage content of nonedible components was mostly due to a decrease in the share of slaughter offal (by 14.5% in males and 18.9% in females), accompanied by minor changes in the proportion of bones (by 4.1% in males and 2.1% in females).