Cilj rada bio je utvrditi varijabilnost pri mjerenju povrsine m.longissimus dorsi (MLD) standardnom metodom planimetriranja i primjenom racunalnog programa Image tool za analizu digitalne slike. Povrsina MLD-a mjerena je na sest leđnih isjecaka trupa goveda (7/9 rebro). Povrsina MLD-a opcrtana je na paus papir i izmjerena polarnim planimetrom. Slike za mjerenje povrsine misica primjenom racunalnog programa dobivene su skeniranjem leđnih isjecaka u mjerilu 1:1. Sva mjerenja povrsine MLD-a su obavljena u tri ponavljanja po svakom uzorku od strane sestoro razlicitih mjeraca. Komponente varijance procjenjene su REML metodom. Udio varijance greske u ukupnoj varijanci usljed ponavljanja mjerenja kod koristenja ¨Image tool¨ programa bio je mnogo manji (0.09 %) u odnosu na udio varijance greske kod standardne primjene planimetra (3.17 %). Primjena ¨Image tool¨ racunalnog programa imala je 35 puta vecu preciznosti mjerenja povrsine MLD-a u odnosu na standardnu metodu planimetriranja.

The objective of this investigation was to determine the carcass traits (weight and measurements, dressing percentage, cooling loss, shares of separated fat and dissected muscle, fat, bone and tendon tissues as well as shares of beef cuts of different retail categories) of young Simmental bulls (n=13) and heifers (n=13) classified according to EUROP system which were produced as Croatian baby beef destined for Italian market. The classification showed a favorable conformation of both, bulls and heifers with about one third carcasses graded as highest E class. The heifers’ fatness was less favorable and almost half of carcasses were classified as high fat class (4) and thus less valuable. The heifers over fatness was confirmed by significantly higher amount of trimmed carcass fat and higher share of fat tissue and lower share of muscle than bulls after carcass dissection. The carcasses of both sex classified as most valuable E class had the lowest proportion of muscle which imply a need for an additional improvement of conformation assessment practice. The differences between bulls and heifers in dressing percentage, carcass cooling loss, shares of Milanese cut, bone and tendon tissue as well as shares of cuts of different beef retail categories in the carcass were relatively small.

A 2X3 factorial experiment was conducted using a total of 504, 1 day old, Cob 500â commercial broilers to determine the effect of added copper (0 or 250 ppm) and full fat soybean meal level (10, 20 and 30 %) on the growth performance and carcass properties in broiler chickens. The chickens fed 250 ppm copper as copper sulfate had lower (P<0.05) average daily gain and lower finally average body weight then chickens fed no added copper diets. Also, added copper impaired (P<0.05) feed conversion ratio during 49-d experimental period. The chickens fed with 30% full fat soybean meal in diet had higher (P<0.01) average daily gain during day 7 to 49 and higher (P<0.01) average body weight at day 49 then those consuming other diets. The addition of 250 ppm of copper improved dressing percentage (P<0.01), increased (P<0.05) lightness of breast muscle and tended to reduce abdominal fat content (P<0.06). The results indicate that the addition of 250 ppm copper to broiler diets have adverse effect on growth performance, but improve dressing percentage and decrease abdominal fat content. Using a 30 % of full fat soybean meal in a broiler diet improves growth performance without negative effect on dressing percentage and abdominal fat content in 49 days fattening period.

In Turopolje pig breed the carcass and tissues composition were established by analysing the share of muscle (M), fat (F) and bone (B) tissues in the carcass and the chemical content (water, W, protein, P, lipid, L, ash, A) in the back fat and m. Longissimus dorsi (MLD) as well as the some traits (diameter and proportions) of slow-twitch oxidative, (SO), fast-twitch glycolitic, (FG), fast oxidative, glycolitic, (FOG), fibre types in the last. Investigation was caried out on Turopolje breed hogs (n=10, age 679 ± 20 days and 100.3 kg ± 4.9 kg). Pigs were fattened in the outdoor system of flood forests and marsh meadows biocenosis (Quercus robur and Deschampsietum caespitosae) according to traditional Croatian technology of low input feed (0.5kg of corn seed/day/animal) in ecosystem. On the slaughter line the animals and carcasses were separetly weighted and cut according to Weniger (1963) method and by total dissection. The samples of muscle and fat tissues were taken from MLD and belonging back fat in height of the 13/14 inter rib space after chilling of 24 h and +4oC for chemical analysis (by Weende methods). For histochemical analysis (Salamon at al. 1981, Pearse, 1972) the sample of MLD from the same place were taken 5 min. after slaughter and frozen in liquid nitrogen until analysis. At Turopolje pig breed in the cold carcass (79, 7 kg) was estimated the share of tissues respectively: M, 40.5 % ; F, 33.8 % ; B, 9.7% and lard, 4.0% double chain, 3.2%. The chemical contents of MLD and back fat were respectively: W, 74.71% and 7.25 ; P 21.19% and 1.49 ; L, 1.46% and 91.76% and A, 1.o6 and 0.06. The size and proportions of fibre types in MLD were respectively: SO, 38.9 µm and 10.5% ; FG, 57.7 µm and 52.9% ; FOG, 53.5 µm and 36.7%.