DUCKLING BREAST SKIN AND FAT MEASUREMENT AS AN INDICATOR OF WHOLE CARCASS FAT

Three strains of Pekin ducklings were used to compare a breast skin an d fat measurement with the percentage fat in the whole carcass. All of the ducklings were fed the same diets and raised in the same controll ed environment. The ducklings were commercially processed at 45 d of a ge and chilled. Two breast skin measurements were then made, A caliper was used to measure the pinched breast skin and fat thickness on the whole carcass. The breast skin with adhering fat was then removed and weighed. The weight of the breast skin with fat was calculated as a pe rcentage of ready-to-cook carcass (with neck). The carcasses were then frozen and shipped to the university for analysis of whole carcass fa t. The bone-in carcasses were thawed, ground, and individually mixed t o create homogeneous samples. The whole carcass fat was then determine d using ether extraction. Correlation of percentage breast skin and fa t to percentage whole carcass fat for each of the three strains ranged from .58 to .76. When all the strains were combined, the correlation was .90. All of the correlations were significant to at least the .01 level.