Performance and carcass characteristics of intact and castrated male Black goat kids fed diets of various energy levels
A. Y. Abdullah A D , F. T. Awawdeh B , H. S. Musallam A , H. H. Titi C , B. S. Obeidat A , R. T. Kridli A , R. I. Qudsieh A and M. A. Abu Ishmais AA Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 22110, Jordan.
B Ministry of Agriculture, Amman, Jordan.
C Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
D Corresponding author. Email: abdullah@just.edu.jo
Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48(9) 1217-1224 https://doi.org/10.1071/EA07368
Submitted: 18 October 2007 Accepted: 8 May 2008 Published: 7 August 2008
Abstract
Thirty Black goat male kids were used in a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement to evaluate the effects of three dietary energy levels (EL) and early castration (TRT) on growth performance, body and carcass characteristics. Upon weaning at 90 days of age, kids were randomly divided into three equal groups (n = 10: five intact and five castrated) and assigned to one of the three dietary treatments containing 15% CP and different energy levels: low (LEL; 10.44 MJ ME/kg DM), medium (MEL; 11.60 MJ ME/kg DM) and high energy (HEL; 12.90 MJ ME/kg DM). Kids were individually fed on an ad libitum basis and were slaughtered at the end of the fattening period. Results showed no differences between castrated and intact kids in feed and nutrient intake. The level of dietary energy affected dry matter intake (P < 0.05), metabolisable energy intake (P < 0.01), crude protein intake (P < 0.05), neutral detergent fibre (P < 0.001) and acid detergent fibre intakes (P < 0.001). Dry matter intake was 280, 305 and 264 g/kg W0.75.day for kids receiving LEL, MEL and HEL diets, respectively. Metabolisable energy intake was the highest for kids receiving the MEL diet (0.90 Mcal/kg W0.75.day) compared with LEL (0.73 Mcal/ kg W0.75.day) and HEL (0.88 Mcal/kg W0.75.day) diets. Final liveweight and average daily gain (ADG) were greater (P < 0.01) in MEL diets. Kids fed MEL gained 133 g/day, while ADG values were 92 and 100 g/day for kids fed LEL and HEL diets, respectively. Total muscle percentage was greater (P < 0.05) for kids fed MEL diets (55.9%) compared with LEL (53.8%) and HEL (51.1%) diets. Castrated kids had lower (P < 0.01) carcass muscle percentage, but higher carcass (P < 0.01) and subcutaneous (P < 0.001) fat percentages than intact kids. It can be concluded that the best growth performance was observed in kids receiving the MEL with no differences between castrated and intact kids. Castration influenced accretion of fat in castrated kids.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the Deanship of Scientific Research at Jordan University of Science and Technology (Fund # 7/2003) and the National Center for Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer for the financial and technical support of this project. Thanks are expressed to the personnel from Jordan University of Science and Technology and Al-Khanasri Research Station for their technical assistance: Mr M. Abu Ishmais, Mr M. Sawalmeh, Mr M. Obeidat, and Mr F. S. Al-Barakeh. The authors also wish to acknowledge the staff of the Agriculture Center for Research and Production for their assistance during animal slaughtering.
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