Carcass composition and meat quality of kids fed sunflower oil supplemented diet

Abstract

A study was conducted to investigate the effect of sunflower oil on growth rate, carcass composition and meat quality of kids. Two groups of five male kids (age 3 months) each of local Bulgarian White goats were fed for 21 days iso-nitrogenous diets, containing either no added fat (control) or sunflower oil, added at 2.5% of wet weight of concentrate. Dietary sunflower oil did not influence the growth rate, average daily gain, dressing percentage, body component weights, carcass and muscle measurements, and the physicochemical characteristics of the meat. Sunflower oil supplementation had a noticeable effect on the deposition and distribution of body fat. Perirenal fat content was not changed, but the weights of caul and sweetbread tended to decrease. In carcass, the relative amount of meat was lower, but fat content increased. The higher content of dissectable fat in the carcass of animals, fed sunflower oil was a result mainly of a higher deposition of intermuscular fat, because the changes of subcutaneous fat were negligible. The effect of dietary fat differed between carcass cuts. Fat content was increased in each part, but it was more than twice as high in the shoulder. There was a tendency for more intramuscular lipids in M. longissimus dorsi (M.LD), M.SM (M.SM) and M. supraspinalis (M.SP). The changed deposition and distribution of kid body fat suggest that sunflower oil (rich in linoleic acid) could have a favourable effect on the quality of goat meat.