Meat quality and physicochemical properties of different aged rex rabbit meat

In present study, the differences of meat quality and physicochemical properties among different aged Rex Rabbits were investigated to provide references for meat processing and classification. Seven healthy and grown-up American Rex Rabbits, aged 4 months, 6 months and 8 months respectively, were selected for each group. The meat color and shear force value were determined as eating indexes, and drip loss, cooking loss, muscle fiber diameter and density and the p H values of rabbits meat were measured as physiochemical criteria to comparatively investigate the sensory qualities and physicochemical properties of different aged rabbits. The results showed that L* (p<0.05) , a* (p<0.05) , drip loss, muscle fiber diameter and shear force values of rabbit meat increased obviously with the increasing of rabbit age, while muscle fiber density decreased (p <0.05) .After slaughter, Calpain enzyme activity tend to decline along with the growth of the age of the rabbits (p <0.05) , and rabbits of 8 months showed higher Caspase-3 enzyme activity than that of 4 months and 6months (p<0.05) .