Influence of slaughter weight and sex on meat quality of rabbits slaughtered at the same age

[The experiment was carried out on 44 hybrid TOP 97 rabbits (21 males and 23 females), slaughtered at fixed age of 12 weeks and grouped in three classes of body weight corresponding to g 2,276 +- 106 (light), 2,549 +- 131 (medium) and 2,868 +- 117 (heavy). The carcasses showed a significant increase of fatness with the increase of slaughter weight. The dressing percentage was significantly higher in male rabbits. On the whole, neither slaughter weight, nor sex affected meat quality, evaluated by both traditional and NMR methods on Longissimus dorsi muscle]