Slaughter and Carcass Characterization, and Sensory Qualities of Native, Pure, and Upgraded Breeds of Goat Raised in the Philippines

Goat production is one of the activities included in integrated farming in the Philippines. Goats are raised for its meat and regardless of breed the animal is slaughtered for this purpose. In order to document the carcass yield of different goats slaughtered, five (5) different breeds of goats to include Purebred Boer and Anglo-nubian, Crossbred Boer and Anglo-nubian and Philippine Native goat were used in the study. Data on slaughter parameters, carcass characteristics, and sensory evaluation were gathered and analyzed using Complete Random Design (CRD) at 5% level of significance and the results of carcass conformation were assessed descriptively. Results showed that slaughter data such as slaughter/live weight, hot and chilled carcass weights, dressing percentage and percentage drip loss were significantly different (P>0.05) among breeds. On carcass and meat characteristics, pure breed and upgraded Boer were found to be moderately muscular while Native goat was rated as thin muscular. The color of the carcass also revealed that Purebred and crossbred Boer were described dark red, while Native goat was noted to be slightly pale. On sensory evaluation, the results indicated that there was no significant difference (P>0.05) among breeds evaluated. It is therefore concluded that purebred goat has heavier carcass, while both purebred Boer and upgrade are rated slightly muscular. It is further confirms that regardless of breed, goat will have the same sensory characteristics. Thus, it is recommended to slaughter heavier goats to obtain more carcasses with better conformation and quality.

Preparation Influences of Breed, sex and Sodium Butyrate Supplementation on the Performance, Carcass Traits and Mortality of Fattening Rabbits

Twenty four New Zealand white rabbits (12 does and 12 bucks) and twenty four Flanders (12 does and 12 bucks) rabbits, allotted into two feeding regime (6 for each breed, 3 males and 3 females) first one fed commercial ration and second one fed commercial diet plus sodium butyrate (300 g/ton). The obtained results showed that at end of 8th week experimental period New Zealand white rabbits were heavier body weight than Flanders rabbits (1934.55+39.05 vs. 1802.5+30.99 g); significantly high body weight gain during experimental period especially during 8th week (136.1+3.5 vs. 126.8+1.8 g/week); better feed conversion ratio during all weeks of experiment from first week (3.07+0.16 vs. 3.12+0.10) till the 8th week of experiment (5.54+0.16 vs. 5.76+0.07) with significantly high dressing percentages (0.54+0.01 vs. 0.52+0.01). Also all carcass cuts were significantly high in New Zealand white rabbits than Flanders. Females rabbits (at the same age) were lower body weight than males from start of experiment (941.1+39.8 vs.972.1+33.5 g) till the end of experiment (1833.64+37.69 vs. 1903.41+36.93 g); gained less during all weeks of experiment except during 8th week (132.1+2.3 vs. 130.9+3.4 g/week), with lower dressing percentage (0.52+0.01 vs. 0.53+0.01) and lighter carcass cuts than males, however, they had better feed conversion ratio during 1st week, 7th week and 8th week of experiment. Addition of 300g sodium butyrate/ton of rabbit increased the body weight of rabbits at the end of experimental period (1882.71+26.45 vs. 1851.5+49.82 g); improve body weight gain at 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th week of experiment and significantly improve feed conversion ratio during all weeks of the experiment from 1st week (2.85+0.07 vs. 3.30+0.15) till the 8th week of the experiment (5.51+0.12 vs. 5.77+0.12). Also the dressing percentage was higher in Sodium butyrate fed groups than control one (0.53+0.01 vs. 0.52+0.01) and the most important results of feeding sodium butyrate is the reducing of the mortality percentage in rabbits during 8 week experiment to zero percentage as compared with 16% in control group.