Comparative study of the body composition of different turkey genotypes by means of CT (short communication)

Abstract. Male and female BUT Big 6 and Bronze turkeys (type 1967) kept in a gene reserve were in vivoL investigated with non-invasive high resolution computerized tomography by means of a sipral CT scanner. The imaging procedure was carried out at the ages of 5, 12, 16 and 21 weeks on two turkeys, in both sexes. All animals were kept under intensive conditions according to the demands of the conformation and the body weight of the relevant group average. On the basis of 30–50 scans gathered from each bird during the scanning procedure the volumetric measurement of the total body muscle content was performed. These values were at the 5th week 0.9 and 0.8 vs. 0.3 and 0.2 dm3 in BUT male and female vs. Bronze male and female birds. At the 21st week the respective values were: 12.65 and 7.66 vs. 3.60 and 2.28 dm3. The total body fat content was characterised by the so called "fat index", a value independent of the live weight. This indices were at the 21st week: 0.12 and 0.20 vs. 0.12 and 0.13 following the above order. The investigation of the tissue development in the body was carried out by means of 3D histograms. The morphologic properties of the breast muscles were compared based on real 3D reconstructed images at the age of 21 weeks where the major differences concerned the m. pectoralis superficialis. The applied imaging methods are well applicable to describe the anatomic and body compositional differences in the excessively different genotypes.