Feeding strategies combining grazing and confinement differentially affect performance, meat fatty acid profiles and muscle transcriptomes in Albas cashmere goats.

Abstract

The grazing-confinement (GC) feeding strategy has been increasingly promoted in China's pastoral regions to reconcile grassland conservation with livestock production. However, it remains unclear whether the grazing-confinement-grazing (GCG) feeding strategy can further improve meat quality compared to the GC feeding strategy. Here, we compared the impact of these two strategies on growth performance, meat fatty acid profiles and muscle transcriptomes in 24 Albas cashmere goats (ACGs), which were randomly assigned to either the GC group (grazing for 90 days followed by confinement for 90 days) or the GCG group (grazing for 90 days, confinement for 70 days, followed by a final 20 days grazing period). Our results showed that compared to the GC group, the GCG group exhibited lower growth performance, carcass weight, and dressing percentage, but higher shear force, likely associated with increased walking distance and reduced nutrient intake during the final grazing period. Notably, the GCG group had higher n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and lower n-6 PUFA in the longissimus thoracis et lumborum muscle compared to the GC group, resulting in a lower n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio, indicating an improved nutritional fatty acid profile of goat meat. Further, transcriptomic analysis showed downregulation of unsaturated fatty acid synthesis genes and upregulation of fatty acid oxidation genes in the GCG group compared with the GC group, indicating altered lipid metabolic regulation. In general, this study highlights the need to optimize grazing-confinement schedules to enhance meat lipid nutritional value while maintaining animal productivity.

Abstract as supplied by the indexing source. © the authors / publisher.