Effect of fish oil and thyme essence on meat quality and meat oxidative stability of Mahabadi kids

This study was carried out to determine the effects of supplementing fish oil and thyme essence on performance and carcass traits in Mahabadi goat kids. For this aim, twenty-eight Mahabadi goat kids (average initial BW of 17/8 ± 2/8 kg, 4-5mo) were randomly assigned to four treatments: 1) control (basal diet), 2) 0.2% thyme essence, 3) 2% fish oil and 4) 2% fish oil +0.2% thyme essence. Animals were kept in individual pens with self-mangers for 94 d. Kids were weighed at 21 day intervals and slaughtered at the end of the trial. Addition of different levels of fish oil and thyme essence failed to significantly effect on redness (a*), yellowness (b*), chroma, hue angle, lightness(L*), pH, moisture(%), intramuscular fat(%), crude protein content(%),Warner-Bratzler shear force, cooking loss and drip loss percentage of longissimus dorsi muscle (LDM) (p>0.05). TBARS values of the LDM were significantly increased as the storage time increased from 1 to 2 months (P<0.05). It was also found that diets 2 and 4, significantly decreased, and diet 3 significantly increased lipid oxidation and the TBARS value compared with diet 1 at during of storage (P<0.05). The results of this experiment indicated that supplementation of diet with 0.2% thyme essence decreased oxidative stability and improved quality of LDM during refrigerated storage.