Growth, body composition and carcass tissue distribution in goats of large and small sizes

A study was carried out to compare growth, composition and distribution of carcass tissues in male and female Omani goats of large (Batina) and small (Dhofari) body sizes. Goats had ad libitum access to Rhodesgrass hay (8% CP) and a concentrate diet (16% CP) from weaning until slaughter at either 11 or 18 kg body weights. Batina goats reached both slaughter weights earlier than Dhofari goats (P < 0.001) with males (maximum of 147 g/d) growing faster than females (maximum of 92 g/d) but Dhofari goats had higher growth rates relative to final body weight (P < 0.05). Batina had higher proportions of head, skin, feet and lungs and trachea (P < 0.001) than Dhofari goats in which males had higher proportions of the testes in the empty body (P < 0.001). Dhofari goats had higher (P < 0.01) dressing out percentage (DO) than Batina at 18 kg body weight in both males and females and 18 kg in males (55-58% and 51-52%, respectively). Dhofari had higher total body fat (P < 0.05), total non-carcass fat (P < 0.001) and carcass muscle (P < 0.05) but lower carcass bone (P < 0.001) than Batina goats. They also had higher proportions of muscles in the proximal hind limb (P < 0.001), around the spinal column (P < 0.001), and abdominal wall (P < 0.05) but lower proportions of muscles in the proximal forelimb (P < 0.001), distal forelimb (P < 0.001), muscles connecting forelimb to thorax (P < 0.05), intrinsic muscles of neck and thorax (P < 0.001) and total forequarter muscles (P < 0.001) than Batina goats. Dhofari goats had higher proportions of bone in the forelimb than Batina goats. Findings of this study indicated that the smaller Dhofari goat may be more efficient for meat production than the larger breeds like the Batina under Omani conditions.