Martina Franca donkey meat quality: Influence of slaughter age and suckling technique

This work aimed to evaluate the effect of suckling technique and slaughter age on Martina Franca donkey meat quality. Twenty Martina Franca male foals were involved in the trial. Foals naturally assumed colostrum within 4 h from birth. Afterwards, 10 foals were partially artificially suckled (AS), and 10 foals were naturally suckled (NS). All the foals were weaned at 180 d, then housed indoors and fed the same diet. Ten donkeys were slaughtered at 12 months and the other 10 at the age of 18 months. Samples of Longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) were taken from each foal for chemical analysis, then rheological parameters, oxidative profile, colorimetric parameters and fatty acid profile were assessed. Older donkeys (18 months) fed with natural milk presented the highest intramuscular fat (IMF) and meat protein content. From a dietary view point, IMF acid composition showed a more favourable profile in meat from artificially-reared donkeys compared to naturally-suckled ones.