Nowadays, animal welfare is driving consumers’ purchase choice, hence the challenge to recover rabbit sector from many years of downturn is to find a valuable compromise between animal welfare, farmers’ needs, and meat quality. Among the efforts to improve rabbit welfare, mirrors have been proposed as cages or pens enrichment; however, it is unclear if they affect rabbit meat quality. Hence, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of the use of mirrors into free-range areas on color, weight loss, pH, water holding capacity (WHC), fatty acid profile (FA), conjugated dienes (CD) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) of both fresh and stored rabbit meatballs. Specifically, rabbits were divided in three farming groups: in the open group (OG) the rabbits of three replicates could see and smell each other; in the closed group (CG), plastic sheets isolated each replicate; the replicates of the mirror group (MG) were confined as the CG but animals could mirror themselves thanks to two mirrors (120 × 40 cm each) placed inside the area. After 49 days, nine rabbits from each group were slaughtered, their carcass meat was minced to form 40 meatballs for each group destined to be analyzed (n=10) immediately (T0), and after 20 (T20), 40 (T40), and 80 (T80) days of frozen storage (-10°C). The meatballs physical traits were similar among the farming groups, while the pH value was lower in MG (6.02) than OG (6.07), and CG (6.07) meat (P < 0.05). The farming slightly affected the FA content, being the PUFAn-3 amount between 60 and 121 mg/100 g (P > 0.05). Concerning the oxidative status, both CG and MG groups had higher (P < 0.01) TBARS than the OG, while the CDs were unaffected. The duration of storage modified all the physical traits, for instance the weight loss increased (P < 0.001) and the WHC diminished (-5.86%) during the early 20 days. Only the OG group showed a specific ability to maintain its redness value till the T40. Even though the overall PUFAn-3 fraction did not vary, both C20:5n-3 and C22:5n-3 were halved (P < 0.01) and CD (P < 0.001) doubled during the early 20 days. In conclusion, the OG farming was the best method for improving meat quality; however, mirrors can minimize the negative effects of a confined housing on the quality items, hence representing a valuable environmental enrichment.

如今，动物福利正在驱动消费者的购买选择，因此要从多年的低迷中恢复兔子产业的挑战是在动物福利，农民需求和肉质之间找到一个有价值的折衷方案。在改善兔子福利的各种努力中，有人建议使用镜子作为笼子或围栏的围栏。但是，尚不清楚它们是否影响兔肉质量。因此，本研究旨在评估在自由范围内使用镜子对颜色，重量减轻，pH，持水量（WHC），脂肪酸谱（FA），共轭二烯（CD）和硫代巴比妥酸的影响。新鲜和储存的兔肉丸的活性物质（TBARS）。具体来说，将兔子分为三个饲养小组：在开放式小组（OG）中，三个重复的兔子可以看到并闻到彼此的气味；在封闭组（CG）中 每个复制品均隔离塑料片；镜子组（MG）的复制品仅限于CG，但由于该区域内放置了两个镜子（每个120×40厘米），所以动物可以自己镜子。49天后，将每组的9只兔子屠宰，将car体肉切成肉丸，每组准备立即进行分析（n = 10）（T0），然后在20（T20），40（T40），和80（T80）天的冷冻储存（-10°C）。各组肉丸的物理特性相似，MG（6.02）的pH值低于OG（6.07）和CG（6.07）的pH值（屠宰每组中的9只兔子，将其car肉切成肉丸，以便每组立即（T0）进行分析（n = 10），然后在20（T20），40（T40）和80（T80）之后进行分析）冷藏（-10°C）天。各组肉丸的物理特性相似，MG（6.02）的pH值低于OG（6.07）和CG（6.07）的pH值（屠宰每组中的9只兔子，将其car肉切成肉丸，以便每组立即（T0）进行分析（n = 10），然后在20（T20），40（T40）和80（T80）之后进行分析）冷藏（-10°C）天。各组肉丸的物理特性相似，MG（6.02）的pH值低于OG（6.07）和CG（6.07）的pH值（P <0.05）。耕作对FA含量的影响很小，PUFAn-3的含量介于60和121 mg / 100 g之间（P > 0.05）。关于氧化状态，CG和MG组的TBARS均高于OG （P <0.01），而CD则不受影响。储存的时间改变了所有的身体特征，例如，在开始的20天中，体重减轻（P < 0.001）和WHC减少（-5.86％）。只有OG组显示出在T40之前保持其发红值的特定能力。即使总PUFAn-3分数不变，C20：5n-3和C22：5n-3均减半（P <0.01）和CD（P<0.001）在20天的初期增加了一倍。总之，OG养殖是改善肉质的最佳方法。然而，镜子可以将密闭房屋对优质物品的负面影响降到最低，因此代表了宝贵的环境财富。