• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.445-452
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• 2004

Genetic diversity of sub-Saharan African goats was assessed using 19 microsatellite markers. Breeds were sampled from eastern Africa (Maasai, Kigezi, Mubende, North West Highland, Arsi-Bale), southern Africa (Ndebele, Pafuri) and West Africa (West African Dwarf, Maure, Djallonke). European breeds (Grisons Striped, Toggenburg), Asian breeds (Mongolian Cashmere, Bandipur) and a Middle East breed (Arab) were also included. The mean number of alleles per locus and average gene diversity ranged from 5.26$\pm$0.464 (Djallonke) to 7.05$\pm$0.516 (Mubende) and from 0.542$\pm$0.036 (Pafuri) to 0.672$\pm$0.031 (Ndebele), respectively. The between breeds variation evaluated using $$G_{ST}$$ and $\theta$ were found to account for 14.6% ($\theta$) and 15.7% ($$G_{ST}$$) of the total genetic variation. The $D_{A}$ measure of genetic distance between pairs of breeds indicated that the largest genetic distance was between Pafuri and Djallonke while the lowest genetic distance was between Arsi-Bale and North West Highland. A neighbour-joining tree of breed relationships revealed that the breeds were grouped according to their geographic origins. Principal component analysis supported the grouping of the breeds according to their geographic origins. It was concluded that the relationships of sub-Saharan African goat breeds were according to their geographical locations implying that the goats of eastern Africa, West Africa and southern Africa are genetically distinct. Within each sub-region, goat populations could be differentiated according to morphological characteristics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.1773-1782
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• 2014

The aim of the experiment was to study the effect of feeding system on meat quality characteristics of Small East African (SEA) goats and their crosses with Norwegian ($SEA{\times}N$) goats finished under small scale farming conditions. Twenty four castrated goats at the age of 18 months with live body weight of $16.7{\pm}0.54kg$ from each breed (SEA and $SEA{\times}N$) were distributed in a completely randomized design in a $2{\times}3$ factorial arrangement (two breed, and three dietary treatments). The dietary treatments were; no access to concentrate (T0), 66% access to ad libitum concentrate allowance (T66) and 100% access to ad libitum concentrate allowance with 20% refusal (T100) and the experimental period was for 84 days. In addition, all goats were allowed to graze for 2 hours daily and later fed grass hay on ad libitum basis. Daily feed intakes were recorded for all 84-days of experiment after which the animals were slaughtered. Feed intake of T100 animals was 536 g/d, which was 183 g/d higher than that of T66 group. Supplemented goats had significantly (p<0.05) better feed conversion efficiency. The SEA had higher (p<0.05) hot carcass weight (8.2 vs 7.9 kg), true dressing percentage (54.5 vs 53.3) and commercial dressing percentage (43.3 vs 41.6) compared to $SEA{\times}N$. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) for dressing percentage and carcass conformation among supplemented goats except fatness score, total fat depots and carcass fat which increased (p<0.05) with increasing concentrate levels in the diet. Increasing level of concentrate on offer increased meat dry matter with subsequent increase of fat in the meat. Muscle pH of goats fed concentrate declined rapidly and reached below 6 at 6 h post-mortem but temperature remained at $28^{\circ}C$. Cooking loss and meat tenderness improved (p<0.05) and thawing loss increased (p<0.05) with ageing period. Similarly, meat tenderness improved (p<0.05) with concentrate supplementation. Shear force of muscles varied from 36 to 66, the high values been associated with Semimembranosus and Gluteobiceps muscles. The present study demonstrates that there are differences in meat quality characteristics of meat from SEA goats and their crosses with Norwegian breeds finished under small scale farming conditions in rural areas. Therefore, concentrate supplementation of goats of both breeds improves meat quality attributes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.1245-1251
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• 2006

This study was carried out to determine the genetic relationships among seven west African goat breeds : Casamance Goat (Kolda, Senegal), Labe Goat (Fouta Djallon, Guinea), three Sahel Goat (Djoloff, Senegal ; Maradi, Niger; Gorgol, Mauritania) red Sokoto Goat (Maradi, Niger) and Guera goat (Atar, Mauritania).The polymorphism of six microsatellites and the ${\alpha}_{s1}$-casein locus was analysed. The six microsatellite loci were polymorphic with a mean number of alleles ranging from 2.71 to 4.0. At the ${\alpha}_{s1}$-casein locus, A and B were the most frequent alleles, which are known to be associated with a high level of protein synthesis. A neighbour-joining tree and a Principal Component Analysis were performed and the reliability of both methods was tested. Our study shows that the genetic relationships among the breeds analysed correspond to their geographical distribution and in addition, that the Labe Goat is strongly separated from the other breeds. Among the seven markers used, four have an effect on the distribution of breeds while three seem to be non-informative.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.143-150
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• 2013

The aim of the pilot study was to evaluate slaughter characteristics and carcass composition of indigenous long fat tailed sheep and Small East African goats purchased from the auction markets slaughtered at 1.5 to 2 yrs of age and 20 kg to 25 kg live weight. The animals were slaughtered according to halal standard procedures. The left half carcasses were jointed into eight wholesale joints, and dissected into muscles, fat and bone, which were weighed separately. Sheep had greater (p<0.05) slaughter BW (22.29 kg vs 20.50 kg) and empty BW (20.17 kg vs 18.67 kg) than goats (p<0.05). Dressing percentages were lower (p<0.001) in sheep than goats when carcass weight was expressed as percentage of slaughter BW (42.31% and 47.15%) and empty BW (46.75% and 51.79%). Sheep carcasses had lower (p<0.001) proportion (66.18% vs 71.64%) of muscles and higher (p<0.001) proportion of fat (7.41% vs 3.44%) than goat carcasses. Sheep had proportionally lighter (p<0.001) shoulder (18.89% vs 22.68%) and heavier (p<0.05) proportion of chump (7.916% vs 6.76%) and main rib (8.12% vs 7.07%). Sheep had more (p<0.001) muscles in the leg (28.83% vs 27.08%) and main rib (7.62% vs 6.36%) than goats. Sheep had less (p<0.001) muscles (20.28% vs 23.56%) in shoulder joints when expressed as percentage of total muscle of carcasses. It is concluded that there are differences in sheep and goat both in terms of carcass and joint yields and composition. The present study also implies that there is need to consider setting different meat cuts and prices for these cuts when one takes into account the differences in muscle distribution within joints in sheep and goats.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.295-302
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• 2013

The aim of the study was to compare chemical composition and quality attributes of meat between male long fat tailed sheep (n = 17) and Small East African goats (n = 17) existing in Tanzania. Animals of 1.5 to 2 yrs in age and live body weight of $22.59{\pm}0.50$ kg were purchased from livestock auction markets. Animals were fasted for 18 h and slaughtered according to standard halal procedure. Left carcasses were dissected into muscles, fat and bone and the muscle and fat were mixed together and chemically analysed. Meat quality attributes were measured based on Muscle longissimus thoracis et lumborum excised from right sides of carcasses. Goat carcasses had significant higher (p = 0.0302) moisture content (70.65% vs 66.96%) and lower (p = 0.0027) ether extract (2.49% vs 5.82%) than sheep but there was no significant species differences in protein and ash content. Sheep had lower (p = 0.0157) ultimate pH (5.74 vs 5.88) and higher (p = 0.0307) temperature ($3.77^{\circ}C$ vs $3.15^{\circ}C$) than goat carcasses. Sheep meat had lower (p = 0.0021) shear force values (29.83 N vs 34.07 N) than goat. Within species, at day 9 of ageing, meat tenderness improved (p = 0.0001) by 44.63% and 34.18% for sheep and goat. Pooled data showed that at d 9 of ageing, meat tenderness improved (p = 0.0001) by 39.25% (from 39.54 N to 24.02 N) compared to tenderness of meat which was not aged at day one of slaughter. The present study demonstrated the differences in chemical composition and quality attributes of meat existing between sheep and goats originated from East Africa.