Influence of genotype on meat quality in kids

The research meant to evaluate carcase characteristics and meat quality traits of kids from three genotypes bred in Southern Italy. The trial was carried out in a farm located in Basilicata on 15 male kids born as singletons of three genotypes: Garganica (G), Maltese (M) and Siriana (S) that were fed only milk, suckling from their dams until they were about 21! days old. Afterwards, the kids were weaned with a pelleted feed administered ad libitum and slaughtered at 60! days of age. Dams grazed for about ten hours during the day and received hay ad libitum and a commercial feed (500 g/head/day) at housing, in the evening. Genotype did not affect growth performances. As for slaughtering data, a significantly lower net cold dressing percentage was recorded for M kids (56.42%; SEM =3.723) in comparison with G (64.22%; p<.01) and S (62.51%, p<.05). In M kids the dissection of the right half carcase into meat cuts showed a significantly (p<.05) lower incidence of the loin (5.78% vs. 6.86 and 7.06%, respectively for S and G breeds; SEM =0.711) and leg (30.15%; SEM =0.388) as compared to S (29.69%; p<.01) and G (32.21%; p<.05). Separation of the leg and the loin into their tissue components did not show any significant difference between genotypes as for the proportion of lean, fat and bone. No significant differences aroused between breeds for pH and meat colour features of the Longissimus dorsi (Ld) and Semimembranosus (Sm) muscles. Shear force (WBS) of the Ld muscle of G kids was significantly lower (p<.05) compared to M and S breeds (5.15 vs. 7.95 and 7.27 kg/cm2, respectively; SEM =1.553) while no effect of breed was recorded on tenderness of the Sm muscle. The total collagen content assessed on the Ld muscle showed no significant difference between genotypes. Meat lipid oxidation, measured by 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), showed that Ld meat stored for 10!days at 4 °C had a significantly (p<.01) higher value of malondialdehyde content (mg MDA/kg meat) in the G breed compared to S and M (0.77 vs. 0.28 and 0.38, respectively; SEM =0.206).