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Growth performance and carcass characteristics of Arsi-Bale goats castrated at different ages

2 Abstract: The study was conducted on thirty six male Arsi-Bale kids of 10.56±0.39kg initial body weight for 15 months to investigate the effects of age at castration on growth performance and carcass characteristics. The treatments were entire/intact (T1), castration at three month of age (T2), castration at six month of age (T3) and castration at nine month of age (T4). All castrated and entire goats were browsed during day time and supplemented with concentrate at 2.5% of body weight in DM per day which adjusted with changes in their body weight. Five goats from each treatment were randomly selected and slaughtered for carcass evaluation. Age at castration had no significant effect on body weight, total weight gain (TG), overall average daily gain (ADG) and linear body measurements. T1 and T4 had significantly (P<0.05) higher ADG (g/day) (113.73±3.53 and 108.50±5.23, respectively) than T2 (92.16±6.20) and T3 (92.16±5.72) at 9-12 months of age. There were no significant differences among treatments on most carcass or non-carcass measurements except for fat deposition, which were significantly (P<0.05) lower and heavier for entire as compared to castrated groups, respectively. Therefore, castration is important for better fat deposition in carcass than for body weight gain improvement as time of castration did not result in better weight gain in this study. If castration desired, early castration is recommendable as goats castrated at three months of age had better rib eye area and fat thickness than other castrated groups and intact goats.