THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT WOOD TYPES ON CHEMICAL AND SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS OF SMOKED RABBIT MEAT

Résumé

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of using different wood types on chemical and sensory properties of smoked rabbit meat. 20 rabbits of mixed breed and sex were purchased and used for this study in the Meat Science Laboratory, Department of Animal Production, Olabisi Onabanjo University Ayetoro Campus. The rabbits were slaughtered and the carcasses allotted to 4 wood types smoking and cooking gas as control thus T, = cooking gas (control), T,= Hard wood, T,= softwood, T, = Medium wood, T,= Handwood + softwood+medium wood. Data were collected and analysed in a completely randomized experiment at p<0.05. The results showed that there were no significant differences (p>0.05) in the chemical properties of rabbit meat irrespective of wood type used. In the sensory analysis, rabbit meat smoked with the combination of wood types (T,) had highest (p<0.05) scores in all the variables and most preferred trailed by rabbit meat smoked with hard wood. The use of wood combination is recommended for high sensory quality of rabbit meat.