Effect of management system on carcass yield and conformation in Blanca Andaluza goat kids

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of management system (conventional vs. organic) has affect carcass yield and quality in Blanca Andaluza goat kids. Twenty-four male kids (12 from conventional system and 12 from organic system) were used. Both groups were formed with kids coming from twin births occurred in October, 2006. They were raised with natural milk and slaughtered at 8.4 kg of farm live weight. Fasting losses, empty body weight (EBW), hot carcass weight, chilling looses and external carcass fat measurements were recorded. Different carcass yield measurements were calculated: real, farm, slaughter, commercial and biological yield. There were obtained also measurements of carcass conformation: leg length, hind limb width, hind limb perimeter, chest depth, chest width, carcass external length, carcass internal length, chest perimeter, OS1 and OS2, to obtain different indexes: fleshiness, carcass compactness, leg compactness (LCI), chest roundness, relation carcass depth/length, relation carcass length/width, relation depth/width and bone index. The effect of production system was evaluated on each studied variable. There were differences between management systems in OS1 measurements (p<0.05) (2.2 vs. 2.0 cm, for kids from conventional and organic systems, respectively), and in LCI (p<0.05) (27.34 for conventional kids and 24.10 for organic kids). We can conclude that the production system studied (conventional vs. organic) do not modify, in any case, carcass yield and conformation in Blanca Andaluza kids.