LAUSR

Water scarcity, often accompanied by limited water intake (WI) in livestock, may result in pre-slaughter stress, thereby affecting meat quality. The study evaluated water restriction (WR) levels with or without vitamin C (VC) supplementations on Xhosa goats’ performance, quality and sensory attributes of its meat. Goats (n = 42; mean weight= 15.92±2.12 kg) were distributed into seven treatments groups: without WR (W0, control), WR of 70% (W70) and 50% (W50) of ad libitum WI, WR of 70% (W70+) and 50% (W50+) of ad libitum WI plus 3g VC daily, and WR of 70% (W70++) and 50% (W50++) of ad libitum WI plus 3g VC and extra 5gVC given every eight-day.VC was administered per os. Body weight changes were taken weekly. At the end of the trial (75-d), slaughtering was done following standard procedures. pH24 was measured in the Longissimus lumborum (LTL) muscle between the 12th and 13th ribs, 24 h post-slaughter. Four pieces (2 cm thick) were cut from the carcass’s LTL muscle and assigned for thaw loss, moisture, TBARS, sensory attributes (colour, texture, taste-odour, acceptability), fat and fat-free dry matter determinations. The sensory scores were transformed to achieve normality. Data obtained were analyzed using the GLM of SAS (2003). The dry matter intake and body weight decreased (P ≤ 0.05) in response to WR levels and rose in the vitamin C treated groups. Effect of WR levels and VC supplementation were not significant (P > 0.05) on TBARS, pH24, colour, odour and thaw loss. The meat appearance, moisture and fat content decreased (P ≤ 0.05) with WR levels. This study demonstrates that reduced body weight due to suboptimal WI could be lessened with daily VC supplementation. Also, WR levels and with or without VC, did not impact negatively on the meat quality parameters like oxidative stability of lipids, thaw loss and pH24