Comparison of heavy turkey breeds BUT Big 6 and Hybrid Euro FP for fattening performance, slaughter yield and meat quality

In Europe the heavy turkey breed British United Turkeys (BUT) Big 6 is dominating the market of cuts. This breed shows a very high growth rate. The breed Hybrid Euro FP which was developed for the European market may be an alternative to BUT Big 6. The objective for the present investigation was to compare the breed Hybrid Euro FP and BUT Big 6 for performance, slaughter yield and meat quality traits. The experiment included 144 toms and 288 hens of each breed. The turkeys were kept in a windowless house and were fed a 6-phases dietary program, and the nutrients were formulated to meet the recommendations for BUT Big 6. Performance data were recorded at the end of each feeding phase and slaughter yield as well as meat quality traits were recorded at day 112 for hens and at days 133 and 147 for toms. Hens and toms of breed BUT Big 6 reached higher live weights at slaughter than Hybrid turkeys. There was no significant difference in feed conversion between breeds for males, while female BUT showed significantly better conversion rate than female Hybrid. Differences in slaughter yield between breeds were quite small. But, toms of breed Hybrid showed a significantly higher breast meat yield than toms of breed BUT at 147 days of live. No significant differences between breeds could be observed for meat quality traits (pH, grilling loss and texture of breast meat). The obtained values were within a normal range. It may be concluded that turkeys of breed Hybrid Euro FP have yet not reached the performance level of BUT Big 6 turkeys. As no advantages in carcass and meat quality could be observed for breed Hybrid Euro FP in the present investigation, the replacement of breed BUT Big 6 by Hybrid Euro FP can not be recommended.