Effect of Concentrate Supplementation on Carcass Characteristics of Stall-Fed Barbari Kids

Castrated Barbari kids (16) of about 4–6 months of age and 10.7 kg body weight were used to evaluate the effect of different feeding regimes, i.e., tree leaves mixture (TLM) ad lib. (T1), TLM ad lib. + Concentrate (T2) and TLM + Grass (1:1) ad lib. + Concentrate (T3) for 5 months under stall-fed conditions. T2 had significantly (P<0.05) higher final (19.64), shrunk (18.44), empty body weight (16.87 kg), hot carcass weight (8,39 kg), and dressing percentage (P<0.01) on fasted body weight (45.55%) than group T1 (15.35, 13,75, 11.85, 5.72 kg and 41.52% respectively), There was no significant difference between groups T2 and T3. The overall mean proportions of primal cuts of the carcass were 32.04 12.63. 13.19 28.11 and 14.03% for leg, loin rack shoulder and neck and breast and shank respectively. Proportion of fat was significantlv higher (P<0.01) in supplemented kids of the loin cuts (14.46%) followed by shoulder and neck (11.12%) cut. The proportion of bone was significantly lower (P<0.01) in leg and loin cuts of supplemented groups. Lean meat to bone ratio was 2 25: 1 2 42:1 and 2 36:1 for groups T1 T2 and T3 respectively The corresponding value for lean meat to fat ratio was 10.3: 1 6 66:1 and 6 06:1 Both these ratios the back fat thickness and the loin-eye *irea were significantly affected by diet The proportions of head and ingesta + excreta on slaughter weight basis weight of kidneys fat and mesenteric fat were also significantly (P<0 01) affected by the diet It was concluded that stall-fed kids kept TLM or TLM + grass should be supplemented with cencentrate for higher and better chevon production.