Volatile organic compounds and consumer preference for meat from suckling goat kids raised with natural or replacers milk

Most of European Union goats are slaughtered with carcase weights between 5 kg and 11 kg. Some farmers rear kids with milk replacers to produce cheese with the dams’ milk. The aim of this experiment was to study the volatile compounds (VOCs) of meat of suckling light kids reared with natural milk or milk replacers and to study the influence of consumers’ psychographic characteristics on the sensory preference for meat. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was performed to identify the VOCs and consumers evaluated the flavour, juiciness and overall acceptability. Thirty-five VOCs were detected and 44.3%, 25.1%, 6.9% and 2.3%, were aldehydes, hydrocarbons, ketones and alcohols, respectively. The influence of the rearing system on VOCs clearly depended on the breed. The use of milk replacers did not affect the percentage of linear aldehydes compared to the use of natural milk. However, the major aldehyde, hexanal (34.8%), was related to the use of natural milk and correlated positively with both the flavour (r = 0.21) and overall acceptability (r = 0.24). On the other hand, hydrocarbons such as hexane were related to MR, and 2-methyl-pentane and 3-methyl pentane were correlated with the acceptability of flavour (r = −0.22 and −0.25, respectively) and with the overall acceptability (r = −0.21 and −0.24). The 2-penthyl furan and 2-ethyl-1-hexanol were correlated with the overall acceptability (r = −0.22 and −0.22, respectively). Therefore, the acceptability of meat from suckling kids fed natural milk was greater for older consumers and people with a moderate consumption of meat.Unión Europea, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO). [RTA2012-0023-C03]; CYTED [116RT0503

Carcase and meat quality of Blanca Andaluza kids fed exclusively with milk from their dams under organic and conventional grazing-based management systems

The number of organic farms is growing, but switching from conventional to organic production requires farms continue to produce high quality products. This study compares the carcase and meat quality of Blanca Andaluza goat suckling kids raised under organic and conventional grazing-based stock raising production systems. Twenty-four twin kids (12 males, 12 females) were selected from representative farms of each system. Body weight, dressing percentage, carcase linear measurements, non-carcase components, primary carcase and minor cuts, tissue composition, chemical composition and rheological variables, pH and colorimetric variables, were examined. No significant differences were seen between the production systems or sex with respect to most of the variables studied. However, some non-carcase components and colorimetric variables were affected, with the organic kids’ meat returning lower values for lightness, yellow index, chroma and Hue angle. Indeed, some of the meat colour variables examined easily discriminated between the animals raised under the different production systems. These results show that conventional grazing–based farms raising these goats could easily turn to organic production without carcase or meat quality being affected

Perfil proteómico de plasma de corderos recién nacidos alimentados con calostro: resultados preliminares

Comunicaciones a congreso

Host-Feeding Pattern of Culex theileri (Diptera: Culicidae), Potential Vector of Dirofilaria immitis in the Canary Islands, Spain

To identify the host range of potential vectors of Dirofilaria immitis Leidy, the causal agent of canine diroÞlariasis, we studied the bloodmeal origin of mosquitoes trapped on two of the Canary Islands, Gran Canaria and Tenerife, where this disease is considered hyperendemic. On Gran Canaria, mosquitoes were captured using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) traps (outdoors) and resting in a bathroom (indoors). Only CDC traps were used to capture mosquitoes in Tenerife. The species captured in decreasing order of abundance were Culex theileri Theobald, Culex pipiens L., Culiseta longiareolata Macquart, Anopheles atroparvus van Thiel, and Anopheles cinereus Theobald. The origins of bloodmeals were identiÞed for 121 Cx. theileri and 4 Cx. pipiens after ampliÞcation and sequencing of a fragment of the vertebrate cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene. Cx. theileri fed on goats, sheep, dogs, cattle, cats, humans, and chickens, and Cx. pipiens fed on goats and chickens. A lower success of bloodmeal identiÞcation was obtained in mosquitoes captured resting indoors than outdoors in CDC traps, probably because of a longer time period between feeding and capture. Although most Cx. theileri fed on ruminants, this species also fed on different mammal species susceptible to diroÞliarasis, including humans, suggesting it could play a role on parasite transmissionPeer reviewe

Study of the influence of genotype and rearing method on muscle fibre characteristics in suckling goat kids

Muscle fibres have an important impact on meat quality. There are different types of skeletal muscle fibres, mainly oxidative and glycolytic. The present study showed that dairy breeds and goat kids raised with milk replacer had less oxidative fibres than meat breeds and goat kids raised with their dams. In addition, the muscle fibres measured in this study were smaller in dairy breeds and kids raised with milk replacer than in meat breeds and goat kids raised with the dams.Publishe

Extensive Sheep and Goat Production: The Role of Novel Technologies towards Sustainability and Animal Welfare

[EN] Sheep and goat extensive production systems are very important in the context of global food security and the use of rangelands that have no alternative agricultural use. In such systems, there are enormous challenges to address. These include, for instance, classical production issues, such as nutrition or reproduction, as well as carbon-efficient systems within the climate-change context. An adequate response to these issues is determinant to economic and environmental sustainability. The answers to such problems need to combine efficiently not only the classical production aspects, but also the increasingly important health, welfare, and environmental aspects in an integrated fashion. The purpose of the study was to review the application of technological developments, in addition to remote-sensing in tandem with other state-of-the-art techniques that could be used within the framework of extensive production systems of sheep and goats and their impact on nutrition, production, and ultimately, the welfare of these species. In addition to precision livestock farming (PLF), these include other relevant technologies, namely omics and other areas of relevance in small-ruminant extensive production: heat stress, colostrum intake, passive immunity, newborn survival, biomarkers of metabolic disease diagnosis, and parasite resistance breeding. This work shows the substantial, dynamic nature of the scientific community to contribute to solutions that make extensive production systems of sheep and goats more sustainable, efficient, and aligned with current concerns with the environment and welfareSIThe CECAV authors acknowledge financial support of the research unit, which was financed by the National Funds from FCT, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), project number UIDB/CVT/00772/2020. Financial support from FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Lisboa, Portugal) in the form of infrastructural funding to LEAF (UID/AGR/04129) and PhD grants SFRH/BD/143992/2019 (DM Ribeiro) and 2021.07638.BD (L Sacarrão-Birrento). Author L.E.H.C. acknowledges funding from the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Spain) (RYC2019- 027064-I/AEI/10.13039/501100011033

The application of omics in ruminant production: a review in the tropical and sub-tropical animal production context

The demand for animal products (e.g. dairy and beef) in tropical regions is expected to increase in parallel with the public demand for sustainable practices, due to factors such as population growth and climate change. The necessity to increase animal production output must be achieved with better management and production technologies. For this to happen, novel research methodologies, animal selection and postgenomic tools play a pivotal role. Indeed, improving breeder selection programs, the quality of meat and dairy products as well as animal health will contribute to higher sustainability and productivity. This would surely benefit regions where resource quality and quantity are increasingly unstable, and research is still very incipient, which is the case of many regions in the tropics. The purpose of this review is to demonstrate how omics-based approaches play a major role in animal science, particularly concerning ruminant production systems and research associated to the tropics and developing countriesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

How Management System Affects the Concentration of Retinol and α-Tocopherol in Plasma and Milk of Payoya Lactating Goats: Possible Use as Traceability Biomarkers

The retinol and α-tocopherol concentrations were quantified (μg/mL) using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in both plasma and milk of goats from three management systems. The aim was to investigate if the compounds pass from feed to animals’ fluids and to evaluate their potential use as feeding regime biomarkers. A total of 45 Payoya dams were distributed in three groups according to management system during the first month of lactation: mountain grazing (MG), cultivated meadow (CM) and total mixed ration (TMR). TMR group had higher concentrations of retinol in both plasma (25.92 ± 3.61 at 30 days postpartum) and milk (8.26 ± 0.79 at 10 days postpartum), and they were also the unique animals whose milk contained detectable concentrations of α-tocopherol (3.15 ± 0.19 at parturition). However, MG and CM goats showed higher plasma concentrations of α-tocopherol (64.26 ± 14.56 and 44.65 ± 5.75 at 30 days postpartum, respectively). These results could imply differences in the bioavailability of supplemented vitamin A and natural β-carotene and between the natural/synthetic forms of α-tocopherol. An inverse relationship between the fluids (plasma/milk) in the contents of α-tocopherol and retinol was observed as lactation progressed. Since 80% of the animals were correctly classified using a discriminant analysis based on these vitamins, these compounds could be used as traceability biomarkers of feeding system, but further studies are necessary to know the possible passage to kid meat