Carcass and primal cuts yield evaluation of African antelope (<i>Antilope cervicapra</i>) caught at Ago-Iwoye, Ogun state, Nigeria

Abstract

Four Af

rican antelopes were purchased freshly killed from local hunters at Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State Nigeria and were transported to the Meat Science Laboratory of the Department of Animal Production, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Yewa Campus, Ayetoro, Ogun State, where the study was
conducted. The Antelopes were dressed conventionally, eviscerated, washed and weighed. They were dissected into two halves and chilled at 40C for 24 hours. One half carcass of each antelope was weighed after chilling and was fabricated into primal cuts namely; leg, shoulder, rib, loin and breast, shank + flank (BSF) and weighed. Weight of chilled half carcass and primal cut as well as the proportions of primal cuts relative to chilled half carcass weight percentage cook yield, cooking loss, lean meat, bone as well as meat to bone ratio were determined. The results showed that leg cut had highest percentage weight of 40.11, followed by shoulder cut (16.94%), while loin cut had the least (10.72%). Percentage cook yield was highest in leg cut (71.69%), followed by BSF (70.85%) and least in rib cut (66.39%). The percentage cooking loss was highest in shoulder cut
(37.09%), followed by rib cut (33.61%), and while leg cut had the least (27.81%). The leg cut gave the highest lean meat weight of 436.25 g followed by the shoulder cut with 187.50 g, while loin cut gave the least (59.00 g). Similarly, the leg cut had highest bone of 103.75 g, followed by
shoulder cut (42.75 g) and least in loin cut (19.50 g). The lean to bone ratio was highest in shoulder cut 4.39:1 closely followed by leg cut 4.20:1, while loin cut had the least 3.03:1 lean-tobone ratio. The results on yield of carcass and primal cuts of Antelope obtained from this study compared well with those of sheep and goats. It is therefore, suggested that domestication of Antelope be expedited in order to shore up the supply of animal protein for growing world population, especially in developing countries where animal protein consumption is low.

Keywords: African antelope, carcass yield, primal cuts, meat, animal protein