Abstract

PENA, Francisco et al. Effect of sex and feed (maternal milk vs. Milk substitute) on the growth and carcass characteristics in florida goat kids. Rev. Cient. (Maracaibo) [online]. 2009, vol.19, n.6, pp.619-629. ISSN 0798-2259.

The experiment was conducted on a commercial farm, under semiextensive system and located in the province of Seville, Spain. In order to evaluate the effect of the type of food (goat milk vs. substitute) and sex on the growth and carcass traits, sixty four twins kids of Florida goat breed born the same day were used. The animals remained with their mothers the first day of life. Afterwards, they were divided into two groups: LN (goat milk) and LA (milk replacer). The daily weight gain was higher in LN (203 g/d vs. 187 g/d) and significantly greater (P<0.05) in males (202 g/d vs. 184 g/d). Sex significantly influenced (P<0.05) most of the components of the “fifth quarter”, whereas the food type had an effect on the fat deposit. The carcass of the males were longer, deeper and more compact than those of the females (P<0.05), whereas the food type only had a significant effect (P<0.05) in the indices of compactness, L/G, G/F and Th/G. The carcass weighed between 7.2 and 8.2 kg, and the carcass yields were 52-56%, with significant differences (P<0.05) between genders and type of food. The quartering of the carcass offered values of the 32-33% for legs, 26-27% for ribs, 19-20% for the back, 12-13% for chest and 9-10% for the neck, without statistical difference (P>0.05) between type of food and sex. The carcass of the males displayed higher (P<0.05) percentage of muscle (58.4 vs. 57.1%), and of bone (22.7 vs. 21.8%) and lower percentage of fat (17.9 vs. 19.9%) as compared to females, whereas the food type only affected significantly the intermuscular fat content (12.2% LN vs. 11.1% LA).

Keywords : Kids; Florida breed; natural rearing; artificial rearing; growth; carcass characteristics.