Meat Yield of Broilers of Different Breeds, Strains and Crosses

GROWTH of the broiler industry has stimulated the breeding of poultry for meat producing qualities. Consumers are interested in the amount of edible meat obtained, processors are interested in dressing and eviscerating yields and the breeders are interested in the production of a bird that satisfies both and does it efficiently. Several workers have reported dressed and eviscerated yields of broilers. In reports by Jull and Maw (1923); Lowe (1941); Jull et al. (1943); Essary et al. (1951); and Jaap et al. (1950) the dressed yields ranged from 85 to 90 percent of live weight and eviscerated yields varied from 65 to 75 percent of live weight. Reports by Brown and Bean (1952) and Broadbent and Bean (1952) give an edible yield of 48.5 percent of live weight for fryers and 54.7 percent for roasters. This increase in yield with increase in age and size confirms the work of McNally …