1. Is it possible to increase goat meat production under Mediterranean forest conditions using small amounts of concentrate without deterioration of its quality?
- Author
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Slimeni, Olfa, Hajji, Hadhami, Mekki, Ilyes, Smeti, Samir, Mahouachi, Mokhtar, Saidani, Faïcel, and Atti, Naziha
- Subjects
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GOAT meat , *GOAT milk , *FOREST management , *GOAT farming , *MEAT analysis , *MEAT storage , *FAT - Abstract
Meat is considered a highly nutritious and valued food, although red meat contains high amounts of fat, while goat meat has been established as lean meat. The main objective of this study was to investigate the nutritional quality of meat from Mediterranean kids raised on two forest pastures in the extensive production system (EPS) where goats grazed on a natural forest pasture without concentrate and in the semi-intensive production system (SIPS) where goat received concentrate in addition to pasture grazing. The meat analysis involved 10 kids from each system. The physicochemical characteristics of meat were similar for both management variants of forest raised goats. The meat of the EPS variant contained more (p<0.01) saturated fatty acids (SFA) while that of SIPS more (p<0.01) monounsaturated FA. Contents of polyunsaturated FA (PUFA), PUFA n-3 and n-6 as well as ratios of PUFA/SFA and n-6/n-3 were similar for all meat samples of forest raised goats. The n-6/n-3 ratio was below 4, indicating high nutritional quality of meat from forest raised goats. After 9 days of storage meat lipid oxidation in all the samples was below the threshold concentration. Meat of Mediterranean goats grazing in forest pastures may be considered as food of high nutritional quality, which was improved at a small concentrate supply given to goats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022