FINISHING PERFORMANCE AND MEAT FATTY ACID COMPOSITION OF HAIR GOAT AND SAANEN × HAIR GOAT CROSSBRED (F1 AND B1) KIDS

In this study; the finishing performance of Hair Goat and Saanen × Hair Goat crossbred (F1 and B1) kids and fatty acid composition of kid meats were investigated comparatively. Nine purebred Hair Goat, seven Saanen × Hair Goat crossbred (F1) and eight Saanen × Hair Goat crossbred (B1) male kids formed the material of this study. The kids were started to fattenning approximately at 75 days of age following a week for adoptation to feed. The finishing period lasted for 8 weeks. At the end of the 56 days in the finishing period the Hair Goat kids, Saanen × Hair Goat crossbred kids (F1 and B1) gained 2.77, 2.82 and 1.39 kg live weight, respectively (P>0.05) and the consumed feed for 1 kg of live weight gain were observed 10.76, 10.31 and 19.94 kg respectively. Between the genotype groups individual saturated fatty acids (SFA) and total SFA rate differences for M. longissimus dorsi were not significant (P>0.05). While monounsaturated fatty acid C17:1 and C18:1 differences were not found significant between the genotype groups (P>0.05); proportion of C14:1 and C16:1 were higher in Hair Goat kids than crossbred kids (P<0.05). The individual polysaturated fatty acid (PUFA), total PUFA, total n-3 PUFA and n-6 PUFA rate differences were not significant (P<0.05) between Hair Goat kids and Saanen × Hair Goat crossbred kids (F1 and B1). The PUFA/SFA ratio in Hair Goat and crossbred kids (F1 and B1) were determined as 0.19, 0.29 and 0.29, respectively (P>0.05); also the n6:n-3 PUFA ratios were found 4.52, 4.37 and 5.26, respectively (P>0.05). These results indicate that crossbreeding of does from Saanen × Hair cross (F1) and purebred Hair Goat genotypes with purebred Saanen bucks did not result in significant alterations in meat fatty acid composition. As a result; for the purpose of increasing the goat kid meat production in Marmara Region, the intensive finishing of Hair Goat kids and Saanen × Hair Goat crossbred kids (F1 and B1) immediately after the weaning at 2.5 months of age is not recommended due to low finishing performance for all genotype groups.