College of Veterinary Science, Sri Venkateshwara University, Hyderabad-500 030, India
*Part of the Ph.D. thesis submitted by the first author to Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University, Tirupati - 517 502, India, Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, College of Veterinary Science, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad.
Eight male Mahabubnagar goats were slaughtered to study the meat production potential and carcass traits. The dressing percentages based on pre-slaughter weight and empty body weight were 44.60 ± 0.95 and 59.74 ± 1.07, while the average pre-slaughter weight, empty body weight and hot carcass weights were 24.36 ± 1.00, 18.29 ± 1.09 and 10.90 ± 0.60 kg respectively. The mean edible and inedible organs weight were 0.81 ± 0.02 and 6.97±0.25 kg respectively. The mean weight of primal cuts of carcass i.e., leg, loin, rack, neck and shoulder, breast and fore shank were 3.75 ± 0.28, 1.10 ± 0.04, 0.97 ± 0.05, and 2.91 ± 0.17 and 2.21 ± 0.12 kg respectively. High proportion of meat in neck and shoulder (70.97%), bone in rack (37.33%) and fat in loin (5.71%) regions of primal cuts were noticed. The pre-slaughter weight and dressing percentages were correlated positively and significantly with all the primal cuts except loin. The pre-slaughter weight significantly contributed to the prediction of total edible organs, total inedible organs and different primal cuts.
Mahabubnagar goats, Carcass traits, Primal cuts, Composition
