Evaluation of growth, carcass and meat sensory characteristics of West African Dwarf bucks fed dietary Enterolobium cyclocarpum leaves

Abstract

The leaves of Enterolobium cyclocarpum contain secondary metabolites which have beneficial and detrimental effects on the animals consuming them. This experiment was thus designed to investigate these effects on the growth performance, carcass, and meat sensory characteristics of WAD bucks fed concentrate diets containing varying levels of Enterolobium cyclocarpum leaves. Harvested leaves of Enterolobium cyclocarpum (EC) were wilted for 12 to 36 hours, shredded, and incorporated into concentrate diets. Diet 1 contained no EC (0%), while Diets 2, 3 and 4 contained 7.50, 15.00 and 22.50% EC leave, respectively. The crude protein content of the diets ranged from 16.45 to 17.50% and differed significantly (p<0.05). The concentration of tannin (24.02, 28.93 and 29.71 mg/100g) and oxalate (113.15, 96.64 and 142.55 mg/100g) in diets 2 to 4 differed significantly (p<0.05) across dietary treatments. Bucks fed dietary 15% EC leaves (Diet 3) had the highest final live weight of 8.83kg which was statistically similar (p>0.05) to the final weight of bucks fed the control diet (7.73kg; Diet 1), 7.50% EC leave diet (7.33kg; Diet 2) but higher than (p<0.05) 22.50% EC leaves diet (5.65kg; Diet 4). Some internal organs (kidney, heart, and diaphragm) had significant changes in their relative weight across the treatments with diet 3 (15% EC leaves) recording the lowest values. The kidney weight of bucks fed diet 3 (0.64%) compared favourably with the control (0.61%), while the heart and diaphragm weight of bucks fed diet 3 (0.99 and 0.61%) were quite lower than those fed the control diet (1.05 and 0.67). Similarly, meat from bucks fed diet 3 was significantly (p<0.05) adjudged the most preferred, possessing the best aroma, flavor, juiciness, and tenderness. Thus, dietary EC leaves for WAD goats should not exceed 15% for better growth performance, carcass yield, and sensory characteristics.