Meat quality of Boer goat kids and Mutton Merino lambs 2. Sensory meat evaluation

Abstract

The meat palatability, water-holding capacity, colour and shear force values of 32 Boer goat (BG) kids and 32 South African Mutton Merino (MM) lambs were investigated. Two pelleted diets (offered to 16 animals per species) with either a low (LE, 9·9 MJ/kg dry matter (DM)) or a high (HE, 12·1 MJ/kg DM) metabolizable energy level were given to the animals for either 28 or 56 days. Thereafter the animals were slaughtered, the meat cooked and presented to a trained sensory panel. Organoleptically, a difference between goat and lamb was noted. Each one had a specific species flavour, which was not influenced by energy level of the diet. BG meat was perceived to be stringier than that of the MM, but there was no significant difference in Warner-Bratzler shear force values. Tenderness declined with age in both species and there was also a tendency for goat meat to be less juicy than lamb. Chevon had a more pronounced after-taste than lamb. No objective difference could be distinguished between the colour of the cooked goat and lamb, but there was a tendency for fresh lamb to have a higher a*-value (redness) than goat. Although diet did not influence drip loss, drip loss increased with an increase in slaughter age. Only after 56 days did the m. semimembranosus of MM have a significantly higher drip loss than that of BG (LE: 4·84 v. 3·43%; HE: 4·72 v. 3·23%). In the m. semimembranosus of both species cooking loss increased with an increase in slaughter age. It can be concluded that goat meat compares favourably with lamb in terms of water-holding capacity, colour and shear force values. If goats are finished in the feedlot, it can be done on a LE diet, since diet does not influences any of the mentioned characteristics. This may render a direct economic advantage for BG feedlot finishing.

Carcass composition and meat quality of equally mature kids and lambs1

“…The kid meat was significantly lighter and less yellow than the lamb meat (Table 6). These results are in agreement with Sheridan et al (2003), who analyzed the LM for color measurement of Boer goat kids and mutton merino lambs finished under feedlot conditions. In the present study, the redness of muscle was not influenced by species (Table 6), although goat meat color tends to be darker red than lamb and mutton meat (Babiker et al, 1990;Sheridan et al, 2003).…”

“…There are inherent differences between the 2 species. Goat meat tends to be darker red (Sheridan et al, 2003) and less tender than sheep (Webb et al, 2005) and is characterized by a low intramuscular and subcutaneous fat content (Babiker et al, 1990;Mahgoub and Lodge, 1998) at comparable ages and sexes. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the carcass composition and meat quality attributes of equally mature kids and lambs raised under similar environmental conditions.…”

Carcass characteristics and meat quality of male goat kids supplemented by alternative feed resources: Olive cake and cactus cladodes.

“…Costa et al [19] found that the inclusion of cactus pear has no-effect on ram meat tenderness. The current result of tenderness is near to that found by Swan et al [54] (9.1 kgf) and lower than reported by Sheridan et al [55] (11.1 kgf) for Semimembranosus of Boer goat. Chevon is more hardness than sheep meat because it is characterized by a high collagen content with a low solubility, high fibrous residues, and larger and ticker myofibrils [3].…”

A Comparison of Laboratory‐Based and Home‐Based Tests of Consumer Preferences Using Kid and Lamb Meat

“…Typically, sheep have less collagen content than goats, and collagen solubility differs between breeds of small ruminant (Schönfeldt et al 1993). Sheridan et al (2003) found that goat and lamb had distinct, species-specific flavors. In our study, the flavor and overall acceptability of lamb received medium scores; however, that study and our work differed in the age at which the lambs were slaughtered.…”

“…In our study, the flavor and overall acceptability of lamb received medium scores; however, that study and our work differed in the age at which the lambs were slaughtered. In Sheridan et al (2003), lambs were finished in a feedlot for 1 or 2 months. Then, a dam's milk diet and the early age at slaughter appear to have had a greater influence on flavor and overall acceptability than did specie per se.…”