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Title: EFFECTS OF DIET AND LIVE WEIGHT AT SLAUGHTER ON KID MEAT QUALITY

Author
item ARGUELLO, ANASTASIO - UNIV-GRAN CANARY ISLANDS
item CASTRO, NOEMI - UNIV-GRAN CANARY ISLANDS
item CAPOTE, JUAN - ICIA, TENERIFE, SPAIN
item Solomon, Morse

Submitted to: Meat Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/23/2004
Publication Date: 2/10/2005
Citation: Arguello, A., Castro, N., Capote, J., Solomon, M.B. 2005. Effects of diet and live weight at slaughter on kid meat quality. Meat Science 70:173-179.

Interpretive Summary: Goats are raised in different parts of the world for hair, leather, meat and milk. Most goats are raised for milk products and few for meat so goat keepers remove baby goats (kids) from their mothers very early postnatally. This results in kid goats being very light in weight with very little muscling. Perhaps using artificial rearing rather than nursing with their mothers and using a milk replacer for their diet would increase the amount of lean tissue accretion in the newborn kid goats. If lean tissue accretion could be increased, what effect would this increase have on subsequent meat quality. Results suggested that weight at slaughter had the most influence on muscle quality characteristics, with the heavier the weight at slaughter the more lean tissue and the higher the quality of the lean. The type of diet and rearing conditions for the young kid goats had very little influence on overall meat quality.

Technical Abstract: Forty male twin kids of the Majorera breed were used in a 2 x 2 design, in which the diet, suckled on dam (SD) or milk replacer (MR) and live weight at slaughter (6 or 10 kg) were the main variables. Muscle pH and colour (CIE, L*a*b*) were determined in the longissimus (LD), semimembranosus (SM) and triceps brachii (TB) muscles, immediately after slaughter and chilling (24 h). Water-holding capacity, shear force, chemical composition (moisture, fat, protein and collagen content and solubility) were determined. Muscle fiber populations were also studied. SD kid meat was slightly more tender and juicy, and the Chroma value was lower than in MR animals. The meat from the kids that were slaughtered at 10 kg was significantly darker in all muscles tested, and slightly less tender 6 kg LWS kid meat had more moisture and less protein than that of 10 kg LWS kids. Muscle fiber area was statistically higher in the 10-kg LWS kids. It was concluded that the meat quality of the heavier kids was not significantly different from that of the lighter kids and that slaughter at the greater weight would result in more meat being marketed.