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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Booneville, Arkansas » Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #374784
Research Project: Sustainable Small Farm and Organic Grass and Forage Production Systems for Livestock and Agroforestry

Location: Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center

Title: Forage type and transportation stress effects on gut microbial counts and meat quality in goats

Author
item MECHINENI, A - Fort Valley State University
item KOMMURU, DILL - Fort Valley State University
item TERRILL, THOMAS - Fort Valley State University
item KOUAKOU, BROU - Fort Valley State University
item LEE, J - Fort Valley State University
item GUJJA, S - Fort Valley State University
item Burke, Joan
item KANNAN, GOVIND - Fort Valley State University

Submitted to: Canadian Journal of Animal Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/12/2020
Publication Date: 7/29/2020
Citation: Mechineni, A., Kommuru, D.S., Terrill, T.H., Kouakou, B., Lee, J.H., Gujja, S., Burke, J.M., Kannan, G. 2020. Forage type and transportation stress effects on gut microbial counts and meat quality in goats. Canadian Journal of Animal Science. 00:1-8. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjas-2019-0145.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1139/cjas-2019-0145

Interpretive Summary: Condensed tannin rich plants such as sericea lespedeza fed to goats provides a moderate source of protein, is protective against nematode and protozoan parasites. Little has been reported on the effects of sericea lespedeza on gut microbes and meat quality. Scientists at Fort Valley State University and USDA, ARS in Booneville, AR determined that feeding sericea lespedeza to goats for eight weeks had no effect on meat quality or gut microbes, but that transportation stress of the control and sericea lespedeza goats led to changes in muscle pH and color. This information is important to small ruminant producers, extension agents, veterinarians, and scientists.

Technical Abstract: An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of feeding high condensed tannin (CT) legume (sericea lespedeza, SL; Lespedeza cuneata) forage on gastrointestinal tract microbial counts and meat quality in goats. Intact male Spanish kids were kept in 0.40 ha paddocks of SL, bermudagrass (BG; Cynodon dactylon), or a combination of SL + BG (n = 10 goats/treatment group) for 8 weeks. All goats were supplemented with a commercial feed pellet at 0.45 kg/head/d for the first 4 weeks and 0.23 kg/head/d for the final 4 weeks of the trial. At the end of the experiment, half the goats from each paddock were subjected to 3-hour transportation stress, and all animals were humanely slaughtered. Diet or stress did not have significant effect on skin Escherichia coli, coliform, or aerobic plate counts, and carcass, rumen and fecal bacterial counts. Muscle pH at 24 h postmortem and loin chop a* values (redness) tended (P = 0.06) to be higher in non-transported compared to transported goats. The results in this study show that SL consumption by goats for 8 weeks did not significantly affect skin, carcass, and gastrointestinal tract microbial counts or meat quality. However, preslaughter stress could influence meat pH and color.