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Effect of fish oil and thyme on performance, blood metabolites, meat sensory of Mahabadi kids
This study was carried out to determine the effects of supplementing fish oil and thyme on performance, blood metabolites and meat sensory in Mahabadi goat kids. For this aim, 28 Mahabadi goat kids (BW = 17.8 ± 2.8 kg, 4 to 5mo of age) were randomly assigned to 4 treatments: (1) control (basal diet), (2) 0.2% thyme essence, (3) 2% fish oil, and (4) 2% fish oil +0.2% thyme essence. Animals were kept in individual pens with self-mangers for 94 d. Diet was formulated to meet the requirements recommended by NRC with forage (alfalfa and corn silage): concentrate ratio of 30:70 in TMR form. For measuring blood metabolites (glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol, high and low density lipoprotein, albumin, total protein and blood urea nitrogen), blood samples were collected every 21 d before morning feeding. Kids were weighed after 14 d of adaptation and at 21 d intervals after feed restriction and slaughtered at the end of the trial. Meat samples were taken from the longissimus dorsi muscle and frozen at −200C until taste panel evaluation. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was calculated according to FCR = DMI (kg)/average daily gain (kg). Data were analyzed using MIXED procedure of SAS 9.1. The Tukey test was used for comparison of treatment means. Dry matter intake, average daily gain and feed conversion ratio were not affected by fish oil and thyme essence (P > 0.05). Plasma glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol, high and low density lipoprotein, albumin, total protein and blood urea nitrogen were not affected by treatments (P > 0.05). Addition of fish oil and thyme failed to significantly affect sensory properties of meat (P > 0.05). The results of this experiment indicate that supplementation of goat kid diet with fish oil and thyme did not influence performance, blood metabolites and meat sensory.
Keywords:
Fish oil
Thyme essence
Performance