Animal welfare in multipurpose cattle production Systems and its implications on beef quality

Animal welfare and its influence on beef production are major  considerations in many developed countries. In the developing world, where food insecurity and poverty are prevalent, the welfare of animals receives low priority due to factors such as traditional customs and beliefs, lack of knowledge in animal handling and sub standard handling facilities. This is worsened by the fact that cattle are used for several purposes, such as meat production, milk production, draught power and traditional ceremonies. Research on animal welfare and how it relates to animal production have been done in the developed world. The objective of this study is to discuss indicators of animal welfare assessment, their impact on meat quality and applications to improve beef production in developing countries.Key words: Behavioural assessments, flight zones, meat quality, ritual slaughter

Mainstreaming Underutilized Indigenous and Traditional Crops into Food Systems: A South African Perspective

Business as usual or transformative change? While the global agro-industrial food system is credited with increasing food production, availability and accessibility, it is also credited with giving birth to ‘new’ challenges such as malnutrition, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation. We reviewed the potential of underutilized indigenous and traditional crops to bring about a transformative change to South Africa’s food system. South Africa has a dichotomous food system, characterized by a distinct, dominant agro-industrial, and, alternative, informal food system. This dichotomous food system has inadvertently undermined the development of smallholder producers. While the dominant agro-industrial food system has led to improvements in food supply, it has also resulted in significant trade-offs with agro-biodiversity, dietary diversity, environmental sustainability, and socio-economic stability, especially amongst the rural poor. This challenges South Africa’s ability to deliver on sustainable and healthy food systems under environmental change. The review proposes a transdisciplinary approach to mainstreaming underutilized indigenous and traditional crops into the food system, which offers real opportunities for developing a sustainable and healthy food system, while, at the same time, achieving societal goals such as employment creation, wellbeing, and environmental sustainability. This process can be initiated by researchers translating existing evidence for informing policy-makers. Similarly, policy-makers need to acknowledge the divergence in the existing policies, and bring about policy convergence in pursuit of a food system which includes smallholder famers, and where underutilized indigenous and traditional crops are mainstreamed into the South African food system

Correlations among sensory characteristics and relationships between aroma scores, flavour scores, off-flavour scores and off-flavour descriptors of chevon from four goat genotypes

The objective of the current study was to determine the correlations among sensory characteristics and relationships between flavour scores and off-flavour descriptors of chevon. Forty-eight male 6-months old Xhosa lop-eared, Nguni, Xhosa-Boer cross and Boer goat kids were kept at the University of Fort Hare Farm until slaughter. Sample cuttings for meat tasting were made from the hind leg. Aroma score was independent of off-flavour descriptors from meat from all goat genotypes (P > 0.05). Off-flavour descriptors and their frequencies varied with genotypes. There were significant (P< 0.001) correlations between most sensory characteristics of meat across genotypes although; there were variations in some goat genotypes. There were relationships among sensory scores, while flavour scores, aroma scores, off-flavour scores and off-flavour descriptors of chevon are independent. This implies that, all sensory characteristic scores and off-flavour descriptors should be included when carrying out sensory evaluations with meat from different goat genotypes.Key words: Goat genotypes, off-flavours, off-flavour descriptors, sensory  evaluations, sensory score relationships

Consumer sensory evaluation of meat from South African goat genotypes fed on a dietary supplement

The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of genotype and supplementary feeding on sensory scores of chevon from different indigenous goat genotypes prepared using different thermal treatments. 48 6-month-old Xhosa lop-eared (XLE), Nguni (NGN), Xhosa-Boer cross (XBC) and Boer (BOR) castrated goats with a body weight range of between 20 and 25 kg was used in the study. Half of the goats were supplemented with 200 g per head per day of sunflower cake. A consumer sensory evaluation was done with consumers of different ages, tribes and gender. In the non-supplemented XLE and BOR goats, the aroma intensity scores of the fried meat were significantly higher than the cooked meat. Female respondents gave higher (P < 0.05) scores than male respondents for both cooked and fried meat on aroma intensity. Shona consumers gave higher (P < 0.05) aroma intensity scores than the Xhosa and the Zulu consumers for both cooked and fried meat. In the non-supplemented goats, fried meat for all the genotypes was superior (P < 0.05) to the cooked meat for initial impression of juiciness. The age and gender of respondents and thermal treatment influenced initial impression of juiciness scores (P < 0.05). In meat from the non-supplemented XLE and NGN goats, the consumers gave higher (P < 0.05) muscle fibre and overall tenderness scores in cooked meat than the fried meat.Key words: Dietary supplementation, fried chevon, cooked chevon, Xhosa lop-eared goats, Nguni goats, Boer goats

Effect of parity on the proximate composition and fatty acid profile of milk from Nguni cattle grazing on natural pastures

The objective of the study is to establish the effect of parity on milk composition and fatty acid profiles of Nguni cattle milk. Forty-four Nguni cows with parities ranging from 1 to 13 were included in this study. The cows were grouped to three parity groups: parity group 1 (parity 1 to 5), parity group 2 (parity 6 to 9) and parity group 3 (parity 10 to 13). Samples of the milk were collected in a single day and the milk was analyzed using gas chromatography. Parity had no effect of proximate composition (fat,DMC and moisture %) on milk. The fatty acids (FA) present in the milk of the three parity groups were primarily palmitic (33.3 to 40.5%), oleic (16.3 to 20.3%), myristic (12.5 to 13.2%) and stearic (10.8 to 11.7%) acids, in decreasing order of proportion. Milk from parity group 3 cows contained significantly (p < 0.05) higher proportions of butyric, myristoleic, oleic, eicosenoic, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), arachidonic and eicosopentaenoic acids when compared with the other two parity groups. Parity group 3 also had significantly (p < 0.05) higher values for total SFA, MUFA, PUFA, omega 3 fatty acids and n-6/n-3 ratio than the other two parity groups. Cows in higher parities generally have higher values forindividual fatty acids when compared to those in lower parities. Parity is therefore, an important factor that must be considered when assessing milk quality in Nguni cows.Key words: Conjugated linoleic acid, fat content, harsh environment, fatty acid profile, milk composition

Relationship between pre-slaughter stress responsiveness and beef quality in three cattle breeds

The relationship between stress responsiveness and beef quality of 40 Nguni, 30 Bonsmara and 30 Angus steers was determined. The L* values, pHu, cooking loss (CL) and Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) were determined. Catecholamine levels were determined from urine samples collected at slaughter. Bonsmara steers had the highest (P \u3c 0.05) levels of catecholamines with respective epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine concentrations of 10.8, 9.7 and 14.8 nmol/mmol. Nguni steers had the lowest (P \u3c 0.05) levels of catecholamines, with respective catecholamine concentrations of 5.1, 4.3 and 4.0 nmol/mmol. In the Nguni steers, there were significant (P \u3c 0.05) correlations between catecholamines and L* and between dopamine and tenderness in meat aged for two days (WBSF2). In the Bonsmara, dopamine was correlated (P \u3c 0.05) pHu, WBSF2 and CL. No significant correlations were found in the Angus. Therefore the relationship between stress responsiveness and certain beef quality traits may not be similar in different breeds

Physico-chemical quality attributes and fatty acid profiles of pork from Windsnyer and Large White gilts

The objective of the study was to assess the physico-chemical pork quality attributes and fatty acid profiles of indigenous Windsnyer (WS) and Large White (LW) gilts. Twelve gilts of each breed were fed similar commercial diets from weaning until slaughter at the age of 21 weeks. The m. longissimus thoracis et lumborum was sampled. Differences in muscle pH values obtained 24 hours post mortem (pH24) were not significant in pork from the WS or LW gilts. Pork lightness 24 hours post mortem (L*24) was significantly lower in WS gilts than in LW gilts. Muscle saturated fatty acids (SFA) were higher in WS gilts than LW gilts. Fat of LW gilts had higher polyunsaturated (PUFA), n-6 fatty acids, n-3 fatty acids and PUFA: SFA ratio than WS gilts. The study showed preferential attributes of pork from LW gilts than from WS gilts. The accrued information could benefit the food industry by assisting researchers and nutritionists to interpret the quality of pork from different pig genotypes for health-conscious consumers. Furthermore, it aids in determining the concern about pork as a cardiovascular risk factor and acts as a planning tool for public-health programmes.Keywords: Fatty acids, indigenous pigs, pork quality, tendernes

Relationship between pre-slaughter stress responsiveness and beef quality in three cattle breeds

The relationship between stress responsiveness and beef quality of 40 Nguni, 30 Bonsmara and 30 Angus steers was determined. The L* values, pHu, cooking loss (CL) and Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) were determined. Catecholamine levels were determined from urine samples collected at slaughter. Bonsmara steers had the highest (P \u3c 0.05) levels of catecholamines with respective epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine concentrations of 10.8, 9.7 and 14.8 nmol/mmol. Nguni steers had the lowest (P \u3c 0.05) levels of catecholamines, with respective catecholamine concentrations of 5.1, 4.3 and 4.0 nmol/mmol. In the Nguni steers, there were significant (P \u3c 0.05) correlations between catecholamines and L* and between dopamine and tenderness in meat aged for two days (WBSF2). In the Bonsmara, dopamine was correlated (P \u3c 0.05) pHu, WBSF2 and CL. No significant correlations were found in the Angus. Therefore the relationship between stress responsiveness and certain beef quality traits may not be similar in different breeds

Assessing the nutritional status of beef cattle: current practices and future prospects

Accurate determination of nutritional and health status of animals is invaluable in modern animalagriculture. Body weights and body condition scoring are the commonly used methods of assessingnutritional status of animals. This paper discusses drawbacks these methods have and highlights thebenefits for using blood metabolites in assessing nutritional status of beef cattle. Blood metabolitelevels indicate the extent of metabolism of energy, proteins and other nutrients in animals. Glucose,cholesterol, non-esterified fatty acids, protein, urea, creatinine, albumin, globulin, minerals, liverenzymes and haematology can be used objectively, reliably and routinely to assess the nutritionalstatus of cattle. In Southern Africa, the use of these metabolites is rare due to lack of equipment forblood analysis and the high cost of analyzing the blood parameters. However, use of high value Ngunicattle in Southern Africa requires the use of blood parameters to accurately assess their nutritionalstatus. Several factors, such as physiological status of an animal, breed, nutrition, season and ageaffect levels of blood metabolites. Combining body weights, body condition scores and bloodmetabolites increase accuracy of assessing the nutritional state and welfare of beef cattle

Sustainable Utilization of Indigenous Plants to Mitigate Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases amongst Selected Rural Households of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa

The objective of the study was to explore IK used to control ticks and associated diseases. A structured questionnaire (n = 250) were administered randomly to collect IK amongst the households active in goat production. Challenges on the use of ethno veterinary plants were also captured using focus group discussions. There was an association between goat ownership and gender, males used IK (70%) more than their female counterparts. Ticks were ranked as the major ectoparasites affecting goat productivity. Amongst ticks, Amblyomma species were ranked as the most important. Cissus quadrangularis. Lin (32%), Gomphocarpus physocarpus E. Mey (27%) and Portulaca pilosa L. (25%) plants had the highest FL values for their use to control ticks. Four plant species were identified to treat goats against tick-borne diseases. Pittosporum viridiflorum Sims and Boophane disticha were reported to treat heart water. Aloe marlothii A.Berger and Erythrophleum africanum (Benth.) Harms plants cure anaplasmosis. Livestock farmers hold substantial knowledge of ethno-veterinary plants to control ticks and their associated challenges. More research is required to affirm the acaricidal properties claimed to promote and optimize sustainable use of these medicinal plants