<b>Evaluation of characteristics of carcass of Nile tilapias (“<em>Oreochromis niloticus</em>”) in four classes of abate weight</b> - DOI: 10.4025/actascianimsci.v25i1.2069

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of carcass of Nile tilapia. 199 Nile tilapias were used in an completely randomized design. The studied variables were: weights of the fish and weights headless visceral, length and height of the fish; the weigh and size of the head; the weigh of the fillets; phenotype index of selection (Index of Profile = length divided by the height; Index of Head = length divided by the head's length), the carcass and fillet yielding. The weights of the fish in slaughter, in the studied classes, influenced (P < 0.05) on the alive weight and headless visceral, as well as in the other carcass characteristics. Regarding head's percentage in relation to the headless visceral (P < 0.01) was observed that the weighty fish (536-746g) presented smaller values. It should be noted that the sum of the weight of head, rib and column + fin were approximately 54% of the weight of headless visceral. The carcass and fillet yielding were not significantly (P > 0.05) influenced by the weight of fish in slaughter. The weight of the fillet has correlation (P < 0.01) with all the studied variables. When increasing the weight of the fillet there is a decrease of the profile index. The correlation between height of the fish and weight of the fillet is lightly larger than the correlation with the length. The carcass and fillet yielding don't depend on the weight with that Nile tilapias are slaughter. Only the amount of fillet in the carcass is related with these weights. The fillet yielding is more related with the height than with the length.