Effect of Konar (Ziziphus mauritiana) leaves and sunflower oil inclusion on performance, and meat fatty acids profile of Adani goat kids

In order to study the effects of sunflower oil and Konar leaves addition on performance, meat quality and fatty acids profile, an experiment wasconducted using 32 Adani male goat kids, with 17.8 ± 2.2 kg initial BW in a completely randomized design with a 2×2 factorial arrangement for 75days. Goat kids were randomly assigned to one of four treatments: 1- control, 2- 20% Konar leaves, 3- 2.5 % sunflower oil and, 4- 2.5 % sunflower oil+ 20% Konar leaves. The results showed that treatments had no effect on feed intake and final body weight of goat kids. Oil inclusion in the diettended to increase daily weight gain (P=0.06) and tended to decrease feed conversion ratio (P=0.07) of goat kids. Dry matter, ash, and crude proteinconcentrations, color indices, malondialdehyde concentration and pH of longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle were not affected by treatments. Totalsaturated fatty acids (P<0.05) and total N6 fatty acids (P<0.01) of LD are affected by interaction of oil and Konar leaves supplementation. Inclusion ofkonar leaves in the diet increased the polyunsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids ratio in LD muscle of goat kids (P<0.05). The fat of LDmuscle increased with the inclusion of oil to the diets (P<0.01). The results of this study showed that the use of Konar leaves and sunflower oil in thediet of Adani goat kids can improve the nutritive value of their meat by reducing saturated fatty acids and increasing polyunsaturated fatty acids.