Doctoral Degrees (Animal Sciences)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Animal Sciences) by Author "Geldenhuys, Greta"

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    Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus) : sensory, biochemical and physical meat quality as affected by gender, diet and ageing
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-12) Geldenhuys, Greta; Hoffman, Louwrens C.; Muller, M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of AgriSciences. Dept. of Animal Sciences.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In Southern Africa, the hunting of wildfowl species has increased considerably in the past few years. Crop farmers incur major financial losses due to the feeding activities of Egyptian geese (Alopochen aegyptiacus); consequently a large number of geese are hunted in an attempt to reduce the damage caused. With the current absence of scientific information baseline research investigating the meat quality of this species is essential. The sensory profile of Egyptian goose meat was found to be very distinct in relation to the characteristics of other well-known fowl species. It has very strong game aroma and flavour attributes with a prominent metallic aftertaste. The intense aroma and flavour notes were linked to the substantially higher iron content, as well as the high overall polyunsaturated fatty acid content as revealed by chemical profiling. The trained sensory panel also found the meat to be very tough (high shear force) compared to the other species. To identify the factors which may affect the overall consistency of the meat quality, the influence of three main effects namely; season (grain vs. non-grain diet), gender and portion was investigated. This revealed that season had the largest effect and harvesting periods should therefore be considered. The main issue is the higher intramuscular fat (IMF) content in winter (July), as well as the substantial difference in the fatty acid profiles of the two seasons. The forage vs. grain based diets during certain periods of the year leads to variation in the content of key fatty acids in the meat i.e. oleic acid, linoleic acid and α-linolenic acid. In winter, the meat had a characteristic, prominent game and metallic aroma while the summer (November) profile was governed by “sweet-oily-duck” and beef-like sensory notes. The fatty acid differences also result in variation between the omega 6 to omega 3 ratios of the seasons; the portions from winter are within the recommendations (ratio<5) and those from summer not. Regarding gender, the females had a lower carcass yield but higher IMF content. The female breast portion was also more tender (lower shear force). In attempting to elucidate the toughness of the meat, possible causes have been proposed. The pH decline in the pectoralis muscle occurs quite rapidly and it is possible that the high rigor temperature (>20 °C) may contribute to the increased toughness. Regardless of the proteolytic enzyme activity during the rigor period, the meat is still tough at 36 h post mortem and the proteolytic contribution may be overshadowed by the background toughness, i.e. the connective tissue content and fibre structure. The latter was confirmed when the breast portions were aged for 14 days and no change (decline) in the shear force values was observed even though myofibrillar degradation did occur (during ageing). Given the lack of a decline in the shear force, the aging of Egyptian goose meat as a means of improving the overall toughness cannot be proposed without further research. The study in its entirety provides substantial proof that the commercial utilisation of Egyptian goose meat is feasible.