Effect of Different Fattening Modes on Meat Quality of Spent Young Bohai Male Donkey, a Chinese Domestic Breed
1. Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China;
2. College of Veterinary Medicine, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding 071001, China;
3. Hongkun Donkey Raising Professional Cooperatives of Taocheng, Hengshui 053000, China
Abstract：This study was carried out to find out the effect of different fattening modes on meat quality of spent young
Bohai male donkey. A total of 6 Bohai donkey males (3 years old) were randomly allocated to 2 groups: Ⅰ. Control and
Ⅱ. Fattening, with 3 ones in each group. After feeding for 10 months under different fattening modes, these animals were
slaughtered at 46 months of age. The muscle Longissimus dorsi was sampled for analysis of protein, fat, moisture, pH, shear
force and cooking loss. The results showed that group Ⅱ had significantly higher Intermuscular fat content (9.84%) (P ＜
0.01), but lower moisture content (68.10%) and shear force (4.22 kg) than group Ⅰ(73.80%, 5.28 kg) (P ＜ 0.05). Overall
it is clear that tying-up and nutritional fortification can result in improvements in meat taste, juiciness and tenderness over
the traditional stall raising. Donkey meat from group Ⅱ reached the tenderness requirements of the Italian Fried beefsteak
standard and therefore was suitable for frying processing. Moreover, the value of donkey meat could be enhanced by cutting
according to the concept of beef value addition. This study may provide a new idea for raising donkeys and developing
quality donkey meat.
2014, Vol. 28 
