Mohammed Y. Kurtu

An Assessment of the Productivity for Meat and the Carcase Yield of Camels (Camelus dromedarius) and of the Consumption of Camel Meat in the Eastern Region of Ethiopia

A survey on camel meat productivity and consumption was conducted in Jijiga and Harar towns in 1999. Almost all the camels slaughtered were adults, predominantly males. Measurements of height, hump girth and thoracic girth were used to estimate the live weight. All the measurements were significantly greater in the male than in the female camels. Average live and carcase weights were 400 and 211 kg, respectively. Males were significantly heavier (p<0.05) and had better dressing percentages than females. The carcases contained averages of 76% meat, 12% fat and 20% bone for both males and females. The difference between the males and females was not significant for the ratio of meat and bones, except for fat, which was higher in the males. Camel meat is regarded as a high-quality food with medicinal value and as a least-cost source of meat. Camel meat is preferred to that of any other livestock by some people, particularly by the Somalis in Jijiga town. It is also more available, especially during the dry season when beef is in short supply. Hence, camel meat is a socially acceptable, economically viable and environmentally adaptable alternative source of meat, consumption of which should be encouraged.

Morphological diversities and ecozones of Ethiopian horse populations

Utilizando un enfoque de encuestas estandar, se llevo a cabo una encuesta a nivel nacional para caracterizar morfologicamente e identificar las ecozonas de las poblaciones equinas caballares de Etiopia. Como consecuencia, se ha estudiado una nueva poblacion de caballos asilvestrados no investigada con anterioridad y otras siete poblaciones de caballos diferentes. Se estudio un total de diecisiete variables morfologicas en 503 caballos (293 sementales y 210 yeguas), pertenecientes a cinco de las ocho poblaciones equinas caballares identificadas. Las comparaciones multiples entre medias por pares (PMMC por sus siglas en ingles), utilizando un modelo lineal y analisis multivariantes, se realizaron por separado para cada sexo y los minimos cuadrados medios se utilizaron en el caso de los sexos agregados. Los resultados del PMMC mostraron que existian diferencias significativas (P < 0.05) entre las medias de la mayoria de las variables estudiadas. El analisis de los componentes principales mostro que la altura a la cruz, la altura al dorso, la altura a la grupa, longitud corporal, la longitud dorsal y la longitud ventral en conjunto representaban alrededor del 80 percent de las variaciones. Todas las distancias de Mahalanobis al cuadrado entre las poblaciones fueron significativas (P < 0.01). Las mayores diferencias fenotipicasfueron observadas entre las poblaciones equinas caballares de Bale y Selale y las menores entre las poblaciones Horro y Kafa. La funcion del analisis canonico discriminante mostro que el 77.05 percent de los individuos fueron clasificados correctamente dentro de sus respectivas poblaciones. Por otra parte, el analisis de agrupamiento, basado en las distancias de Mahalanobis al cuadrado, agrupo las cinco poblaciones equinas caballares estudiadas de Etiopia en tres grandes grupos y en cinco poblaciones de caballos diferentes.

Age and body condition effects on meat quality of camels (Camelus dromedarius) in eastern Ethiopia

Meat quality traits of the M. longissimus thoracis of 54 male Issa-Somali dromedary camels in three age groups of 6–10 years (n = 18), 11–17 years (n = 18), and ≥18 years (n = 18), with six camels in each of three body-condition-score groups (poor, medium and good) within each age group were investigated in eastern Ethiopia. Results showed that tenderness and juiciness decreased with age, but increased with body condition (P < 0.0001). Ultimate pH was higher for muscle from the 6- to 10-year-old group (5.62) (P < 0.001), and for the poor body-condition group (5.63) (P < 0.0001). Meat from camels aged 6–10 years old had higher expressed juice (21.21 cm2/g vs 16.67 cm2/g) and cooking loss (42.81% vs 39.86%) than camels aged ≥18 years old. Similarly, meat from camels with poor body condition had higher expressed juice (21.42 cm2/g vs 16.39 cm2/g) and cooking loss (43.99% vs 38.48%) than that from camels with good body condition. The overall L*, a* and b* instrumental colour values were 29.66, 12.17 and 9.69, respectively. It can be concluded that camels aged 11–17 years old with medium body condition can meet the required levels for many quality traits.