Research Article

SLAUGHTER VALUE OF MALE KID GOATS AND LAMBS FED A FLAX SEED-SUPPLEMENTED BALANCED FEED

Elżbieta Horoszewicz, Krystyna Pieniak-Lendzion, Roman Niedziółka

Akademia Podlaska

1. Acta Sci. Pol. Zootechnica, 7(3-4), 2008, 29‒34

Abstract. An experiment was carried out to compare the slaughter value of male kid goats and lambs offered a balanced feed supplemented with a 10% addition of flax seed. After weaning, at about 60 days of age, the animals were divided into two groups: I composed of male kids and II including male lambs. Daily body weight gains were recorded over the period from birth to weaning, and from weaning to the end of fattening. Statistically significant differences (P ≤ 0.01) between the groups were confirmed for both study periods. The slaughter performance was at a similar level and amounted to about 47%. As for the shares of primal cuts in the carcass, the flax seed-supplemented feed in most cases significantly influenced the weight of the cuts (P ≤ 0.01). An assessment of carcass quality on the basis of parentage tissue composition of a carcass side and a leg revealed a higher share in the leg of examined young male goats of meat tissue (70.10%), and a lower share of fat tissue (12.78%) compared with young rams (respectively 68.80% and 16.13%). A statistically significant difference (P ≤ 0.05) was found only for the bone tissue content from a carcass side. The share of bone tissue was 23.87% for group I and 20.37% for group II.

Keywords: billy-goats, rams, slaughter value