THE EFFECT OF DIET ON GROWTH, DRESSING PE RCENTAGE AND MEAT QUALITY IN KIDS

The effect of diet on growth, feed and nutrient intake, dressing perce ntage and meat quality was investigated in a trial with 20 kids of bot h sexes in the White Short-woolled breed of goat. The trial started on the 12th day of age and terminated on the 97th day of age. The kids w ere gradually adapted from goat milk to cow milk and they were weaned at the gth week of age. Kids of control group (no. 1) received barley greats throughout the trial. Group no. 2 received nutrient-higher feed mixtures for early weaning while group no. 3 received the same mixtur es with flocculated cereal ingredients. Higher nutrient uptake resulte d in higher growth rate in the experimental groups. Average weight gai ns were 188 g/day, 211 g/day and 213 g/day in control group, group no. 2 and group no. 3, respectively. Experimental group no. 3 with floccu lated mixtures had the lowest consumption of dry matter, digestible cr ude protein and energy per 1 kg weight gain. Data in Tab. II show the positive effect of the higher dietary planes of nutrients (groups 2 an d 3) on the growth of kids in comparison with traditional barley great s diet, which could be expressly seen in the period of vegetable nutri tion. The results indicate that flocculated mixture positively influen ced the growth of kids also in the period of milk nutrition, and parti cularly in the period of adaptation from milk to vegetable nutrition. Tab. III shows the values of feed intake by kids throughout the trial in absolute terms and per 1 kg weight gain. The groups of kids which r eceived flocculated mixture had the lowest intake of starter and hay p er 1 kg weight gain, but the highest milk intake. This group had the l owest consumption of dry matter, digestible crude protein and energy p er 1 kg weight gain in nutrient terms (Tab. IV). The effect of intensi ve nutrition in groups 2 and 3 was also reflected in the values of dre ssing percentage which amounted to 40.1% in group 1 (control) and to 4 3.3 and 43.8% in experimental groups 2 and 3, respectively. This value corresponds to data reported by Ochodnicky et al. (1988), who determi ned the dressing percentage of 43.9 in the kids with live weight of 22 kg. Tab. VI shows the quality and nutritional parameters in the muscl e of kids, as followed in our trial. Samples of MLD and MST were analy zed in total in 18 animals. There were no statistically significant di fferences between the groups in the values under investigation but fat content in both MLD and MTS in groups 2 and 3 tended to increase.