Carcass traits and meat quality of crossbred Boer goats fed peanut cake as a substitute for soybean meal1

This study aimed to determine the impact of replacing soybean meal with peanut cake in the diets of crossbred Boer goats as determined by carcass characteristics and quality and by the fatty acid profile of meat. Forty vaccinated and dewormed crossbred Boer goats were used. Goats had an average age of 5 mo and an average BW of 15.6 ± 2.7 kg. Goats were fed Tifton-85 hay and a concentrate consisting of corn bran, soybean meal, and mineral premix. Peanut cake was substituted for soybean meal at levels of 0.0, 33.33, 66.67, and 100%. Biometric and carcass morphometric measurements of crossbred Boer goats were not affected by replacing soybean meal with peanut cake in the diet. There was no influence of the replacement of soybean meal with peanut cake on weight at slaughter ( = 0.28), HCW ( = 0.26), cold carcass weight ( = 0.23), noncarcass components of weight ( = 0.71), or muscularity index values ( = 0.11). However, regression equations indicated that there would be a reduction of 18 and 11% for loin eye area and muscle:bone ratio, respectively, between the treatment without peanut cake and the treatment with total soybean meal replacement. The weights and yields of the commercial cuts were not affected ( > 0.05) by replacing soybean meal with peanut cake in the diet. Replacing soybean meal with peanut cake did not affect the pH ( = 0.79), color index ( > 0.05), and chemical composition ( > 0.05) of the meat (). However, a quadratic trend for the ash content was observed with peanut cake inclusion in the diet ( = 0.09). Peanut cake inclusion in the diet did not affect the concentrations of the sum of SFA ( = 0.29), the sum of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA; = 0.29), or the sum of PUFA ( = 0.97) or the SFA:UFA ratio ( = 0.23) in goat meat. However, there was a linear decrease ( = 0.01) in the sum of odd-chain fatty acids in the meat with increasing peanut cake in the diet. Soybean meal replacement with peanut cake did not affect the n-6:n-3 ratio ( = 0.13) or the medium-chain fatty acid ( = 0.76), long-chain fatty acid ( = 0.74), or atherogenicity index values ( = 0.60) in the meat. The sensory attributes of the longissimus lumborum did not differ with the inclusion of peanut cake in the diet as a replacement for soybean meal. These results suggest that based on carcass and meat characteristics, peanut cake can completely substitute soybean meal in the diet of crossbred Boer goats.