Influence of live weight and castration on distribution of meat, fat and bone in the carcass of goats

Abstract

Carcasses of 18 Iraqi indigenous black goats were studied. Castration had no significant effect on percentages of lean meat, fat and bone in the major cuts, neck, shoulder, loin, leg, arm and breast except for percentages of lean and bone in the rack. Live weight increase of animals at slaughter from 18.5 to 24.5 kg caused significant increases in the percentage of lean meat, and significant decreases in bone in the joints of neck, shoulder and breast. No significant differences were observed in the components of rack, loin, leg and arm cuts. Weights or percentages of lean meat, fat and bone in the left side of the carcass were not affected significantly by castration. On the other hand, percentage side muscle and fat increased and bone content decreased significantly (P<0.01) due to the increase of weight at slaughter.Significant correlations were observed between lean meat percent in the side of the carcass and that in the individual cuts for leg and breast (r = 0.60 and 0.58, respectively). Percentages of fat in the side of the carcass correlated significantly with fat content of all cuts except for the neck. Bone content of the rack, arm and breast correlated significantly with the content of fat in the side, while correlation coefficients between bone in the side of the carcass and neck, shoulder, loin and leg were not significant. The most convenient joint for prediction of muscles, fat and bone content of the carcasses was the breast. Carcasses of Iraqi indigenous black goats were found to contain on average 63.6% lean meat, 2.1% fat and 34.2% bone.