HYBRID EVENT: You can participate in person at Rome, Italy or Virtually from your home or work.
HYBRID EVENT
September 16-18, 2024 | Rome, Italy
FAT 2023

Motswapo Phoko

Motswapo Phoko, Speaker at Food Chemistry Conferences
Agricultural Research Council- Animal Production , South Africa
Title : Effect of seriphium plumosum meal inclusion in a diet on carcass characteristics and meat quality of nguni steers

Abstract:

The use of encroaching woody plants such as Seriphium plumosum for livestock feeding is gaining importance. The study aimed at evaluating effects of S. plumosum meal inclusion level in a diet on meat characteristics and quality of Nguni steers fed a diet based on lucerne hay and maize meal. Twenty-eight Nguni steers aged 22 months with an initial mean body weight of 300 ± 10 kg were randomly assigned to isocaloric and isonitrogenous diets containing 0, 10, 20 or 30 % of S. plumosum meal in a complete randomized design, each treatment having seven replications and one steer per replicate. The experiment lasted for 111 days (21 days for adaptation and 90 days for the actual feeding trial). The steers were slaughtered at 25 months of age and carcasses were evaluated for carcass traits, meat quality traits. Seriphium plumosum meal inclusion levels in the diets did not affect (P>0.05) carcass weight, eye muscle area and back fat thickness. However, S. plumosum meal inclusion levels in the diets affected (P0.05) sarcomere length (SL), collagen solubility (CS). A 16.11% S. plumusom meal inclusion level in the diet was calculated, with the use of quadratic equations, to result in optimal Nguni steer meat myofibril lengths (r2 = 0.866). It was concluded that S. plumosum meal inclusion levels at 10, 20 or 30 % in the diets did not adversely affect Nguni steer carcass traits, meat tenderness traits, meat colour, water-holding capacity , and lipid and protein oxidation properties. This is an indication that S. plumosum meal can be included in Nguni cattle diets without causing any adverse effects on meat characteristics and quality parameters. However, long-term studies are recommended to ascertain the present findings.

Biography:

Motswapo Phoko obtained her PhD degree at the University Of Limpopo, South Africa in 2023. She also holds Master of Science in Animal Science from the University of New England, Australia. She is employed at the Agricultural Research Council, Animal Production Institute – South Africa as a Junior Research from 2018 to date. Her duties include amongst others, writing of proposals for funding, postgraduate student supervision, project design and implementation, scientific paper publication, participation at the local and international conferences. Dr. Phoko has recently submitted three-research articles with three international journals, and have three papers under review for publications with international journals. She is supervising one Master of Science candidate.

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