Calpastatin gene polymorphism is associated with rabbit meat quality traits

Candidate genes for marker-assisted selection for growth, carcass and meat quality traits in rabbits

Growth and meat production are the most relevant targets for animal breeders, there are strong relationships between animal growth regulation, body composition and meat quality. Therefore, it is essential to identify the genetic factors that are controlling growth, carcass, and meat quality traits and to explore the correlations between identified genes of those traits. Identification of candidate genes may shift rabbit breeding from classical to modern approaches, which offer great potential to accelerate genetic improvement plans, especially in developing countries. The current work reviews several genes and mutations affecting growth, carcass and meat quality traits. These candidate genes and mutations can be incorporated into MAS programs to improve rabbit breeds especially local breeds, provided that a reasonable proportion of trait additive genetic variance is explained by the significant marker. Furthermore, we highlighted the indispensable need for more researches investigating candidate genes for different traits.

Association of CAST gene polymorphism with carcass value and meat quality in two synthetic lines of sheep

The aim of study was to estimate genotype frequencies of the polymorphism in the intron 12 of CAST gene of growing lambs, and to evaluate associations between the CAST genotype and carcass and meat traits. A total number of 317 rams representing the synthetic BCP (163) and SCP (154) meaty lines were genotyped by the RFLP/MspI/NcoI/Hin6I. Three genotypes including "aa", "ae" and "ac" with most frequencies of 0.48, 0.27 and 0.19, were observed in whole population. Lambs with the "aa" CAST genotype showed the highest muscle percentage and the lowest fat percentage in the hind legs. On the other hand, the loins of rams with "ac" genotype had the highest intramuscular fat content, indicative of beneficial health-related properties and technological usefulness. However, differences between CAST genotype stated for the sensory properties, texture and thawing and cooking losses of the meat were insignificant. Breeding efforts aimed at the improvement of lamb meat quality should prioritize the selection of the "ac" genotype.

Rabbit meat production and processing in China

Rabbit meat has become increasingly popular in China; however, the main available products are still as cut-up parts or whole carcass due to a lack of processing. Currently, rabbit meat products do not fully meet the consumer demand for convenience, thus hindering the further development of the rabbit meat industry. As the biggest rabbit meat producer globally, China has conducted a series of studies on rabbit meat processing and the development of new products. This review presents rabbit breeds, meat importation, exportation, and meat production in China. The development of the rabbit meat industry and research on rabbit meat processing are discussed. The main problems, including a lack of leading enterprises and brand products, insufficient investment and research, and the weakness of fundamental studies on traditional products, are highlighted. Furthermore, current trends of rabbit meat production and processing of being centralized and regionalized, as well as being intelligentized and standardized, are discussed.