in poultry , carcass yield and carcass components are affected by such factors as genotype , sex , age , nutrition , and climate ( brake et al . , 1995 ; leenstra , 1986 ; additionally , processing in slaughter has an important effect on carcass characteristics as well . in turkey production , beak trimming , stocking density , and sex are factors affecting carcass yield and components ( cunningham et al . , 1992 ) . the advantages of beak trimming are ; stopping finger and tail pecking in chicks , preventing vent and comb pecking in adults , reducing fighting s among males , stopping eating eggs in female , reducing the stress in flock , controlling cannibalism , preventing feed waste , increasing the feed conversion and the livability , and providing a higher uniformity in flock ( north and bell , 1990 ) . debeaking is being done as a routine procedure in turkeys industry ( cunningham et al . , 1992 ) . it has been reported that turkeys beaks should be trimmed if housed in a confinement area . it is also advised that beak trimming should be done during the first three weeks in poultry ( ensminger , 1992 ) . welfare and comfort supplied with optimum stocking density ( 2.5 turkeys / m ) affect their health and performance positively . the bird numbers that are higher or less than optimum number in a per unit area decreases production , thus the number of birds affects the farms profits negatively . stocking density was significantly affected by season , housing isolation , and ventilation factors ( parkhurts and mountney , 1988 ) . in general , it is suggested that the stocking density for turkeys should be 0.4 m per bird ( ensminger , 1992 ) . it is well known that carcass weight and its components of turkeys were affected by sex more than other poultry species . because male turkeys grow faster than females ; they reach heavier live weight and carcass weight at the same duration . the effects of beak trimming , stocking density and sex on carcass yield and components , edible yields , abdominal fat , plasma glucose , and triglyceride levels in large white turkeys and the relationships among these characteristics were investigated . total 288 d old large white turkey chicks ( 144 in each sex ) were used in this study . poults sex separation were done at the first day and were kept in brooding machines during the first two weeks . beaks of seventy - seven male and female poults were trimmed when 8 d old with an electrical beak trimmer . experiment was designed as 2  2  2 factorial arrangement with 3 replications in each group . stocking density was 0.25 and 0.50 m per bird ; as the stocking densities in each pan and had 3.0 m ( 1.5  2 m ) and 6.0 m ( 3  2 m ) spaces in which 12 birds were placed . wood shaving was used as litter . feed and water requirements of birds were supplied by ad libitum . birds were fed with diets containing 28% crude protein and 2800 kcal / kg me at 0 - 4 wk periods , 26% crude protein and 2900 kcal / kg me at 5 - 8 wk periods , 22% crude protein and 3000 kcal / kg me at 9 - 14 wk periods , and 19% crude protein and 3100 kcal / kg me at 15 - 18 wk periods . lighting during the first two weeks was provided daily as 23 l : 1 d and then 16 l : 8 d till the end of the experiment . totally 48 birds ( two birds from each pen ) were slaughtered at the end of 18th wk . then , turkeys were fasted for 12 h. their carcass , thigh , breast , ridge , wing , neck , heart , liver , gizzard , and abdominal fat weights were measured with a digital scale ( 1 g sensitivity ) . plasma triglyceride and glucose levels were determined by auto analyzer ( olimpus au 2700 ) . statistical analysis was carried out by using spss 10.0 software program and for the comparison of the mean values ; the duncan tests range was utilized . beak trimming and stocking density had no significant effect on live weights , carcass weights , carcass percentage , plasma triglyceride and glucose levels , the carcass components ( breast , thigh , ridge , wing and neck ) and their percentages in whole carcass , liver , gizzard and abdominal fat weights . however , some characteristics such as carcass percentage , ridge , breast , liver and gizzard ; live weight , carcass weight , parts of carcass percentage , edible yields and abdominal were significantly affected ( p<0.05 ) by sex ( table 1 and 2 ) . means in column with different superscripts differ significantly . * p<0.05 , * * p<0.01 , * * * p<0.001 m , male ; f , female ; ns , non significant ; sem , standart error of means . means in column with different superscripts differ significantly . * p<0.05 , * * p<0.01 , * * * p<0.001 m , male ; f , female ; ns , non significant ; sem , standart error of means . beak trimming  stocking density interaction affected significantly ( p<0.05 ) percentage of ridge , ridge weight , percentage of neck and heart weight . percentage of heart in whole carcass were affected significantly ( p<0.05 ) by the beak trimming  sex interaction ( table 3 ) . the effects on live weight , carcass percentage , plasma glucose level , thigh weights , neck weight , and percentage of liver in whole carcass of stocking density  sex interaction were found to be significant ( p<0.05 ) . similarly , beak trimming  stocking density  sex interaction had a significant ( p<0.01 ) effect on the percentages of thighs in whole carcass , liver weight ( p<0.05 ) and heart weight . * p<0.05 , * * p<0.01 , * * * p<0.001 m , male ; f , female ; ns , non significant ; sem , standart error of means . the correlations between carcass percentage with thigh percentage ( r=-0.447 , p<0.01 ) , breast percentage ( r=-0.400 , p<0.01 ) and ridge percentage ( r=0.363 , p<0.05 ) were found to be significant ( table 4 ) . similarly , the correlations between thigh weights with live weight , carcass weight and breast weight were found to be significant ( p<0.001 ) . positive and significant correlations were determined between plasma triglyceride level with abdominal fat weight ( r=0.315 ) and abdominal fat percentage ( r=0.309 ) ; between plasma glucose level with carcass weight ( r=0.285 ) , breast weight ( r=0.301 ) and neck weight ( table 5 ) . but , negative and significant correlations were determined between plasma glucose levels with percentage of wings . in this study , sex ( s ) had the predominant effect on live weight , carcass components , edible yields , and abdominal fat with plasma triglyceride and glucose levels in turkeys . ( 1995 ) and lilburn and nestor ( 1991 ) stated that there were significant differences between sexes and lines in respect to carcass weight , carcass components and abdominal fat . in this study , carcass percentage and abdominal fat weight for male and female were found lower for males than females . finding the highest carcass percentage for male in 0.25 m / bird in beak trimming ( b ) , however , indicates that trimming had an advantage for carcass percentage even though it was statistically not important . observing the heaviest live weight in trimmed males , ( 1992 ) in which trimmed males at 6 wk were significantly heavier than untrimmed males , whereas untrimmed females were heavier than trimmed females . additionally , with respect to carcass weight , calculating heavier live weight in males than females was similar to leeson and summers ( 1980 ) in which males had heavier carcass weight in large white turkeys . ( 2000b ) stated that percentage of carcass , breast and wing of male turkeys were 73.2 , 33.5 and 11.7% , respectively . in this study , percentage of carcass ( 74.8% ) and wings ( 13.3% ) of males were higher ( p<0.05 ) than the values reported by veldkamp et al . ( 2000b ) , however , breast percentage ( 30.3% ) were lower . on the other hand , breast percentages of turkeys were reported as 32.6% in males and 34.2% in females ( blair et al . , 1989 ) . similarly , in this study , breast percentage was higher ( p<0.05 ) for females . stocking density ( d ) did nt affect significantly carcass percentage of turkeys but d  s interaction ( p<0.05 ) on carcass percentage . ( 1991 ) reported that the carcass percentage and carcass fat were affected by stocking density . interaction of b  d  s in thighs indicating that thighs of birds were affected differently in different sex , density and trimmed or untrimmed condition . significant correlations were found between live weight with breast weight and thigh weight by ( havenstein et al . , 1988 ) . similarly , in this study , it was determined that there are significant relations between live weight with breast weight and thigh weight ( p<0.001 ) . however , barbour and lilburn ( 1995 ) stated that a positive and linear relation between live weights with abdominal fat weight . on the other hand , low and positive correlations between live weight and abdominal fat in male ( 0.32 ) and female ( 0.25 ) turkeys were reported by havenstein et al . there was a significant and positive relation between abdominal fat and plasma triglyceride level in turkeys in a study done by bacon et al . beak trimming , sex separation , vaccination , and transport stress factors have changed blood glucose level in turkey poults ( donaldson et al . , 1991 ) ( 2000 ) reported that there was a high correlation between hatching weight with blood glucose level and glucose concentration in blood increased by ageing . in this study , correlations between plasma glucose level with carcass weight , breast weight and neck weight were found as significant ( p<0.05 ) . even tough , trimming did not have effect on live weight , carcass and its component significantly in general , the higher live weight and carcass weight observed in trimmed groups . as expected , male of birds is heavier than female , and carcass percentage would be adverse . however , in this study , carcass percentage of male was higher in trimmed , in 0.25 m / bird . it would be expected that the higher triglyceride , the higher abdominal fat around liver . the highest triglyceride level was observed in female of trimmed group , in 0.5 m / bird . more study needs to be done to figure out clear effect of trimming on triglyceride .
this study was conducted to determine the effects of beak trimming , stocking density ( d ) and sex ( s ) on live weight ( lw ) , carcass yield and its component , and plasma glucose ( pg ) and triglyceride levels in large white turkeys . to accomplish this aims , totally 288 d old large white turkey chicks ( 144 in each sex ) 
 were used . 
 beaks of 77 male and female poults were trimmed when 8 d old with an electrical beak trimmer . 
 the birds were fed by commercial turkey rasion . 
 experiment was designed as 2  2  2 factorial arrangement with 3 replications in each group . 
 beak trimming and stocking density did not affect live weight , carcass composition and its components . the higher lw and carcass weight observed in trimmed groups . as expected , male birds are heavier than female , and carcass percentage ( cp ) would be adverse . 
 however , in this study , cp of male was higher in trimmed , in 0.25 m2/bird . 
 ( d )  sex ( s ) interaction had an effect on both cp and thigh weights ( p<0.05 ) . 
 significantly d  s was observed in lw , cp and pg . 
 the weight of carcass and its some components were higher in male . 
 s  d interaction had an effect on plasma glucose level ( p<0.05 ) . 
 triglyceride level was affected ( p<0.05 ) by sex . 
 significant relationships were found between percentage of thighs ( r=0.447 , p<0.01 ) and percentage of breast ( r=0.400 , p<0.01 ) . according to this study 
 , it can be said that trimming is useful with density of 0.25 m2/bird in turkey fattening .