Effect of dietary glucosinolates on the vital organs and carcass characteristics in kids

Crossbred male kids (24), about 1 month old, of 6.4 ±0.24 kg body weight were randomly distributed in three equal groups. The kids were offered milk individually according to their body weight. The animals in the control group (G₁) were fed concentrate mixture containing groundnut cake (GNC), whereas those in the experimental groups (G₂and G₃) were fed concentration mixture in which GNC was completely replaced with mustard cake on protein basis for 12 weeks. In G₃ 1.0 ppm iodine was supplemented through milk. All the animals were offered wilted green berseem ad lib. Average weight of hot carcass and dressing percentage were highest in G₁ (6.07 kg and 46.09%) followed by that in G₃ (5.50 kg and 42.08%) and G₂ (4.39 kg and 40.03%), however, differences among groups were non significant. Weight of thyroid gland as percentage of hot carcass weight was higher (P<0.05) in G₁ and G₂ than that in G₃. The weight of other vital organs viz. liver, kidney, lungs, heart, spleen as percentage of hot carcass weight were not significantly different among the groups. Proximate composition, water holding capacity and, cooking loss of longissimus dorsi muscle of kids in different groups were similar. These results indicated that dietaiy glucosinolate with or without iodine supplementation reduced the feed intake and growth performance of kids however, there was no adverse effect on their carcass characteristics and weight of vital organs.