An evaluation for five-year crossbreeding project was performed for growth, carcass performance, meat quality and blood parameters. This crossing project involving a Spanish maternal line called V line (V) and a Saudi Gabali (S) rabbits and 14 genetic groups of V, S, ½V½S, ½S½V, ¾V¼S, ¾S¼V, (½V½S)2, (½S½V)2, (¾V¼S)2, (¾S¼V)2, ((¾V¼S)2)2, ((¾S¼V)2)2, Saudi 2 (S2), and Saudi 3 (S3)
were produced. A total number of 10178 rabbits fathered by 106 sires and mothered by 621 dams were weaned and 2770 rabbits fathered by 91 sires and mothered by 402 dams were slaughtered. The solutions of the mixed model equations for the genetic group effects were used to evaluate genetic groups of this project in terms of body weights, preslaughter weight (PSW), hot carcass weight
(HCW),dressing percentages (DP), offal weight (OW), weights of meat, fat and bone in the carcass, dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE) and ash in the lean. Blood parameters including total proteins (TP), albumin (ALB), globulin (GLOB), albumin: globulin ratio (AGR), total
lipids (TL), cholesterol concentration (CH), and cholesterol index (CI) were also evaluated. S2 was significantly superior in body weights by 36, 165, 193, 222 and 157 g at 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 weeks of age relative to S rabbits, while the corresponding superiorities were 31, 148, 188, 230 and 129 g for S3 line. S2 and S3 were significantly superior in the majority of carcass and meat quality traits relative to
line V or S. Tissues composition in the carcass were mostly in favour of S2 and S3 by 92.9, 12.0 and 13.8 g for weights of meat, bone and fat, respectively, while the respective superiorities were 110, 10.5 and 14.9 g for S3 line relative to the founder breeds. Carcasses were significantly in favour of S2 and S3 relative to V line rabbits for some traits (PSW, HCW and OW). DM, CP, EE and ash contents in the lean were mostly in favour of the synthetic lines relative to the founder breeds where the estimates for S2 relative to S were greatly deviated by values of 5.0, 6.6, -3.3 and 2.6 % in DM, CP, EE and ash and by 5.1, 6.1, -3.9 and 2.1 % in S3 rabbits, respectively (P |
