Current low meat production in Omani goats under traditional feeding regimes justifies a study of the effects of Spirulina Platensis (SP) supplementation on goats’ performance. Hence, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of incorporating SP into diets on carcass characteristics, fatty acid profile and meat quality traits of two Omani goat breeds. Thirty-six eleven-month-old bucks from the Jabbali and Sahrawi goat breeds (n= 18/breed) were divided into three groups (control, Treatment 1, and treatment 2). All animals received a conventional concentrate feed ration (con-trol (CON) consisting of pellets creep fed. Animals were fed SP daily with Treatment 1 (T1) fed at 2g/head and Treatment 2 (T2) fed at 4g/head. Sahrawi bucks showed a highly significant response to SP feeding compared to Jabbali bucks. Average daily gain and carcass traits (body length, leg length and the rack weight) of Sahrawi bucks were significantly higher in the T1 group than in the CON group. The weights of omental and kidney fat increased in T1 group of Sahrawi goats, while it increased in T2 group of Jabbali goats compared to CON group. Ultimate pH increased in T1 group and meat color (lightness) increased in T2 group in both LD and SM muscles of Sahrawi goats. Most of PUFA n-6 and n-6/n-3 ratio increased in T1 group, while most of MUFA2 and PUFA n-3 fatty acids increased in T2 group of Sahrawi goats. In addition, a significant decrease in pentadecanoic and margaric acids of Sahrawi goats was observed by adding SP to the diet com-pared to the control group. The study concluded that incorporating SP (2g and 4g/head) into the diet of Omani goats, especially Sahrawi goats, can increase growth performance, improve fatty acid composition and meat quality.

Context. Spirulina platensis (SP) has been found to be an important dietary supplement for boosting animal growth performance, having a high protein content (60-70% on a dry-matter basis) with minimal toxicity. Aims. The effect of Spirulina platensis (SP) supplementation on the growth and performance of two Omani goat breeds (Jabbali and Sahrawi) was investigated. Methods. Thirty-six 11-month-old bucks from two Omani goat breeds were studied for 70 days at the Livestock Research Centre, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, Oman. Each breed was divided into three groups (n = 6) and fed one of the following three rations: (1) control (CON): concentrate with 14% crude protein and 11.9% energy (MJ/kg DM); (2) Treatment 1 (T1): the same concentrate with 2 g/head.day SP; and(3) Treatment 2 (T2): the same concentrate with 4 g/head.day SP. Weekly growth, performance and body conformation data collected included live bodyweight (BWT), body condition score (BCS), average daily gain (ADG), chest girth (CG), wither height (WH) and body length (BL). Key results. The Jabbali breed had a higher feed conversion ratio for T1 and T2 than did the Sahrawi breed. During the trial, no differences in total DM intake were found between treatments for either breed. T1 and T2 SP supplementation levels significantly (P < 0.05) improved the BWT and ADG of the Sahrawi breed compared with the CON group. Analysis of all traits indicated a significant (P < 0.05) effect of feeding spirulina on all the studied traits except WH and BL. ANOVAs for fixed effects in this study (dam age and kid birth type, i.e. single, twin or triple) were not significant (P > 0.05) for any of the studied traits. However, the breed effect was highly significant (P < 0.001) on BWT, ADG, BCS and treatment effect was significant (P < 0.05) on CG traits. Conclusions. Spirulina platensis could be used as a supplement feed to improve growth, performance and morphological traits in Omani goat production. Feeding spirulina to kids led to increased growth, herd performance and buck selection facilitation at an earlier age. Implications. These findings will benefit Omani goat producers in managing productivity and product quality.