The aim of the experiment was to study the effect of feeding system on meat quality characteristics of Small East African (SEA) goats and their crosses with Norwegian (SEA×N) goats finished under small scale farming conditions. Twenty four castrated goats at the age of 18 months with live body weight of 16.7±0.54 kg from each breed (SEA and SEA×N) were distributed in a completely randomized design in a 2×3 factorial arrangement (two breed, and three dietary treatments). The dietary treatments were; no access to concentrate (T0), 66% access to ad libitum concentrate allowance (T66) and 100% access to ad libitum concentrate allowance with 20% refusal (T100) and the experimental period was for 84 days. In addition, all goats were allowed to graze for 2 hours daily and later fed grass hay on ad libitum basis. Daily feed intakes were recorded for all 84-days of experiment after which the animals were slaughtered. Feed intake of T100 animals was 536 g/d, which was 183 g/d higher than that of T66 group. Supplemented goats had significantly (p<0.05) better feed conversion efficiency. The SEA had higher (p<0.05) hot carcass weight (8.2 vs 7.9 kg), true dressing percentage (54.5 vs 53.3) and commercial dressing percentage (43.3 vs 41.6) compared to SEA×N. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) for dressing percentage and carcass conformation among supplemented goats except fatness score, total fat depots and carcass fat which increased (p<0.05) with increasing concentrate levels in the diet. Increasing level of concentrate on offer increased meat dry matter with subsequent increase of fat in the meat. Muscle pH of goats fed concentrate declined rapidly and reached below 6 at 6 h post-mortem but temperature remained at 28°C. Cooking loss and meat tenderness improved (p<0.05) and thawing loss increased (p<0.05) with ageing period. Similarly, meat tenderness improved (p<0.05) with concentrate supplementation. Shear force of muscles varied from 36 to 66, the high values been associated with Semimembranosus and Gluteobiceps muscles. The present study demonstrates that there are differences in meat quality characteristics of meat from SEA goats and their crosses with Norwegian breeds finished under small scale farming conditions in rural areas. Therefore, concentrate supplementation of goats of both breeds improves meat quality attributes.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of days in feedlot (DF) on physico-chemical properties and meat tenderness of Tanzanian long fat-tailed sheep (TLS) of Tanzania. Seventy castrated TLS (12 months old and mean live weight of 21.1 0.6 kg) were randomly assigned to seven treatment periods of DF in a completely random design experiment. The periods were 0, 14, 28, 42, 56, 70 and 84 days, designated as DF0, DF14, DF28, DF42, DF56, DF70 and DF84, respectively. Each treatment period had 10 experimental animals. Immediately after purchase, DF0 animals were slaughtered and their meat quality characteristics were determined. DF14, DF28, DF42, DF56, DF70 and DF84 groups were fed Cenchrus ciliaris hay as basal diet and molasses-based concentrate diet (160 g CP and 10.9 MJ ME/kgDM) and water on ad-libitum basis. At each period of stay, 10 experimental animals were randomly selected and slaughtered until the end of the feedlot period of 84-d was reached when the last group was slaughtered. Carcass pH and temperature were measured at 45 min, 6 h, 24 h and 48 h post mortem at the m. longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LL) muscle. The m. longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LL), semimembranosus (SM) and supraspinosus (SP) muscles were then dissected from the carcass and evaluated for drip loss (%), cooking loss (%) and Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) values, after zero and nine days of aging. The results from this study revealed that there was a significant (P0.05) affected by period of stay. Cooking losses decreased (P

A 2 × 3 factorial experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of goat genotypes and different concentrate levels on growth and slaughter characteristics of Small East African × Norwegian crossbred (SEA × N) and Small East African (SEA) goats. The three concentrate levels were T0 (no access to concentrate), T66 (66 % access to ad libitum concentrate allowance) and T100 (100 % access to ad libitum concentrate allowance). Twenty-four castrated goats of each genotype (18 months old with an average weight of 16.7 ± 0.54 kg) were randomly allotted into T0, T66 and T100 treatments. Daily feed intake and fortnight body weight measurements were recorded for the whole 84-day experimental period, after which the animals were slaughtered. Feed intake of T100 animals was 536 g/day, which was 183 g/day higher than that of the T66 group. Supplemented goats (T66 and T100) had significantly (P < 0.05) higher daily gain and body condition score, and better feed conversion efficiency and dressing percentage than T0 goats. The SEA goats had higher (P < 0.05) hot carcass weight (8.2 vs. 7.9 kg) and showed better (P < 0.05) dressing percentage than SEA × N animals. Among supplemented goats, the cost of a 1-kg gain under T66 was Tshs 213/= cheaper than T100 (US$1 ≈ Tshs 1,500). It is concluded that goats should be grazed and supplemented with 353 g concentrate/day for satisfactory fattening performance and higher economic return on investment.