Improvement of fatty acid profiles in kid meat from Murciano-Granadina goats under semi-arid environment

Abstract

The present paper shows the results of a comparison of the fatty acid profile of kid meat obtained from extensive management system under semi-arid conditions and conventional systems. Meat samples from 61 Murciano-Granadina goat kids reared in extensive management system (9 females, 12 males) under semi-arid conditions and two variants of conventional managing systems, intensive with natural rearing (9 females, 11 males) and intensive with artificial rearing (10 females, 10 males), were used in the present study. Kids reared under the extensive management system showed (P < 0.05) that their intramuscular fat depots had the lowest percentage of myristic acid (12.31%) and the highest percentage of oleic acid (36.66%). A strong influence of physical activity during grazing in pasture modulated the fatty acid profile in muscle of kids reared under the extensive management system. Kids from this management system show a trend to produce healthier meat relative to intensive with natural and with artificial rearing management systems, as reflected by the fact that the lowest atherogenicity index was measured in intramuscular fat from kids reared under extensive management system.

Testing eye temperature assessed with infrared thermography to evaluate stress in meat goats raised in a semi-intensive farming system: a pilot study

“…Thus, no selection has been made on these animals to avoid stress due to daily management. The Spanish meat goat breed, Blanca Serrana, is an example of it, showing in general, an extensive management farming system (Camacho et al, 2005). However, the population showed in this study was raised in a semi-intensive farming system, which implies a certain human contact which these animals are not used to.…”

“…On the other hand, eye temperature assessed with infrared thermography is a new tool that has been already proven as an appropriate technique for stress assessment in other animal species, such as horses (Valera et al, 2012), cattle (Stewart et al, 2005), dogs (Travain et al, 2015) or even rabbits (De Lima et al, 2013). However, although infrared thermography has been used to assess stress by measuring rectal or average surface temperature in goats (Da Silva et al, 2014), no previous studies have been developed in this species for stress assessment using the caruncle temperature. This anatomical area has rich capillary beds innervated by the sympathetic system and responding to changes in blood flow (Stewart et al, 2007).…”

“…The Blanca Serrana goat is classified as a Spanish native breed, with a total number of 4288 females and 454 breeding males in 2017 (MAPAMA, 2016). Generally, these goats selected for meat production and usually raised in an extensive farm system, with very little management from the farmer as they spend most of their time grazing free on the mountains (Camacho et al, 2005). Recently, the meat goat industry has been getting bigger, with Spain having the second largest (14.2 %) in the entire European Union territory after Greece (24.8 %) (FAOSTAT, 2018).…”