Relationship Between Body Composition and Performance of Local Turkey

This study examined the relationship between carcass composition and performance traits of local turkey fed starter diet (30.2% protein, 2950 kcal/kg ME). At 8 week of age, male and female chicks were separated and reared in individual cages until 16 weeks of age. At the end of the experiment, the birds were slaughtered and carcasses were analyzed for chemical composition to predict chemical composition (moisture, ash, protein and fat) from performance traits such as initial body weight (g) at 8wk, final live body weight (g) at 16wk, daily weight gain (g), daily feed intake (g), feed conversion ratio, daily protein intake (g), protein conversion ratio, dressing-out percentage. There were significant correlations between moisture, protein and fat; between ash, protein, fat and dressing-out percentage; between protein, fat and dressing-out percentage; between fat, moisture, ash, protein, live body weight, feed conversion ratio, protein conversion ratio and dressing-out percentage. Although the coefficient of correlation (R2) for prediction equations was not high, the moisture content equation depends on feed conversion ratio while for ash, protein and fat depends on dressing-out percentage.