Effect of age on the carcass traits and meat quality of turkey poults

To study the slaughter age effect on carcass characteristics and meat composition 8 poults from each age group ie. 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 weeks were slaughtered. There was a progressive increase in ready-to-cook (eviscerated carcass including giblets) yield from 71.2% at 6th week to 77.9% at 14th week of age. Bony parts viz. back, neck and wings showed a decline, whereas, thigh part increased with increasing age of birds. Although the breast portion of turkey had higher proportion of meat (80.2%) than thighs (77%) at 6th week of age, the same tended to a progressive decline with a corresponding increase in thigh meat yield during subsequent growing periods. No consistent trends were observed in the meat yields of bony parts such as back, wings and neck. Shear force values of both leg and breast meat progressively increased with increase in age of the poults. It is suggested that turkey poults may be slaughtered from 8 weeks onwards.