Effect of Age and Breed on Carcass and Meat Quality Characteristics of Beni-Guil and Ouled-Djellal Sheep Breeds.

Two hundred eight sheep, belonging to two main breeds of eastern Morocco, "Beni-Guil" and "Ouled-Djellal," were investigated for carcass traits and meat quality. The objective of this study is to determine the effects of breed and age at slaughter on carcass traits and meat quality. The animals were slaughtered at three age classes: milk teeth, animals with two adult teeth, and adult animals. Dressing percentage, carcass measurements, compactness indices, carcass shrinkage parameter, conformation scores, fatness state, fat consistency, fat and meat colour, and pH were measured 24 hours postmortem. The results showed that the dressing percentage, carcass measurements, and compactness indices increased with slaughter age (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the effect of breed was higher for Ouled-Djellal breed of carcass characteristics (p < 0.01). However, no significant effect was observed for carcass shrinkage parameter. The longissimus lumborum muscle was used to determine the meat colour, which ranged from 23.89 to 21.96, while the ultimate pH ranged from 5.70 to 5.82. These results were influenced by age at slaughter (p < 0.05) but not influenced by breed. Breed and age at slaughter had a significant influence on carcass traits (p < 0.001). The present study provided a new insight into the effect of breed and age at slaughter on carcass and meat traits of both "Beni-Guil-PGI" and Ouled-Djellal sheep breeds.

Proximate Composition, Amino Acid Profile, and Mineral Content of Four Sheep Meats Reared Extensively in Morocco: A Comparative Study.

This study aimed to compare the organoleptic and nutritional quality of four sheep meats produced in Morocco. This comparison was carried out by analyzing the proximate composition, amino acid profile, and mineral content of meat. The majority of the evaluated parameters were influenced by genetic and geographical factors (p < 0.05). The longissimus lumborum muscle had higher a ∗ value in Timahdite and Ouled-Djellal breeds. The highest values of macroelement were recorded in samples of Beni-Guil meat sampled in the Tendrera region (BGT; 1067.3 mg/100 g), while the highest microelement content was registered in Timahdite meat (5.7 mg/100 g). Iron and zinc were the major identified trace elements, while phosphorus and potassium were the most abundant macroelements. The abundant amino acid was glutamic, while cysteine and methionine were least abundant. The higher essential amino acids index (IEAA) was recorded in the Timahdite sheep meat (162.20, 158.71, 161.02, and 159.65, respectively, for Timahdite, BGT, Ouled-Djellal breeds, and Beni-Guil meat sampled in Ain Beni Mathar region). From a nutritional point of view, the studied meats had a good protein and mineral quality, due to their richness in essential amino acids and microelements. The present study provided new insights on the organoleptic quality and the nutritional value of three Moroccan sheep meats reared in outdoor production system.

Fatty acids, health lipid indices, and cholesterol content of sheep meat of three breeds from Moroccan pastures.

The lipid analysis of commercial lamb's meat, from two main Moroccan production areas Middle Atlas and highlands of eastern Morocco, was conducted. This study concerns the lipid quality of sheep meat from Beni Guil (BG) and Timahdite (Ti) as indigenous breeds and that of the Ouled Djellal (ODj) breed of Algerian origin. To study the effect of the geographical area, the meat samples from the Beni Guil breed were taken in the two main locations of this breed: in the region of Ain Beni Mathar (BGA) and that of Tendrara (BGT). The fatty acid profiles of the sheep meats analyzed showed the following: (i) polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) richness was of 12.87 % and 20.59 % respectively for BGA and BGT breeds; (ii) polyunsaturated  /  saturated fatty acid ratios were ranged between 0.28 to 0.50 respectively for BGA and Ti breed; and (iii) PUFA- n - 3 content was 1.71 % for ODj breed and 2.13 % for BGA. Thus, the PUFA- n - 6   /  PUFA n - 3 ratios range between 4.92 and 9.6 for BGA and Ti sheep meat, respectively. The cholesterol content was 0.08 % and 0.12 % of fresh meat respectively for ODj and BGA. Finally, meats of BGA and ODj have similar thrombogenicity (1.23 and 1.27 respectively) and atherogenicity indices (0.71 and 0.68 respectively). Statistically, these values were significantly higher than those registered for Ti breed (IT: 1.04 and AI: 0.51). In conclusion, from a nutritional point of view, it can be deduced that these meats have an interesting lipid quality due to their richness in desirable fatty acid (UFA  +  C18 : 0).

Multiple alignment comparison of the non-structural genes of three strains of equine influenza viruses (H3N8) isolated in Morocco.

BACKGROUND: Three equine influenza viruses, A/equine/Nador/1/1997(H3N8), A/equine/Essaouira/2/2004(H3N8), and A/equine/Essaouira/3/2004(H3N8), were isolated from different Equidae during local respiratory disease outbreaks in Morocco in 1997 and 2004. Their non-structural (NS) genes were amplified and sequenced. RESULTS: The results show high homology of NS nucleotide sequences of A/equine/Nador/1/1997 with European strains (i.e., A/equine/newmarket/2/93 and A/equine/Grobois/1/1998) and clustered into the European lineage. However, NS gene of A/equine/Essaouira/2/2004(H3N8) and A/equine/Essaouira/3/2004(H3N8) strains indicated high homology with equine influenza strains that had circulated before 1990 (A/equine/Fontainbleu/1/1979(H3N8), which belonged to a pre-divergent phase Amino acid sequence comparison of the NS1 protein with reference strain A/equine/Miami/1963(H3N8) shows that the A/equine/Nador/1/1997(H3N8) strain has 12 substitutions at the residues D/24/N, R/44/K, S/48/I, R/67/Q, A/86/V, E/139/K, A/112/T, E/186/K, L/185/F, A/223/E, S/213/T and S/228/P. In both A/equine/Essaouira/2/2004(H3N8) and A/equine/Essaouira/3/2004(H3N8) strains, the NS1 sequences present one common mutation at the residue: S/228/P. CONCLUSION: It seems that all of these substitutions are not produced at the key residues of the RNA-binding domain (RBD) and the effector domain (ED). Consequently, we can suppose that they will not affect the potency of inhibition of cellular defences, and the virulence of the Moroccan equine strains will be maintained.

Cleavage site and Ectodomain of HA2 sub-unit sequence of three equine influenza virus isolated in Morocco.

BACKGROUND: The equine influenza (EI) is an infectious and contagious disease of the upper respiratory tract of horses. Two outbreaks were notified in Morocco during 1997 and 2004 respectively in Nador and Essaouira. The aims of the present study concern the amino acids sequences comparison with reference strain A/equine/Miami/1963(H3N8) of the HA2 subunit including the cleavage site of three equine influenza viruses (H3N8) isolated in Morocco: A/equine/Nador/1/1997(H3N8), A/equine/Essaouira/2/2004 (H3N8) and A/equine/Essaouira/3/2004 (H3N8). RESULTS: The obtained results demonstrated that the substitutions were located at Ectodomain (ED) and transmembrane domain (TD), and they have only one arginine in cleavage site (HA1-PEKQI-R329-GI-HA2). In the Ectodomain, the mutation N/1542/T deleted the NGT glycosylation site at position 154 for both strains A/equine/Essaouira/2/2004(H3N8) and A/equine/Essaouira/3/2004(H3N8). Except for mutation D/1602/Y of the A/equine/Nador/1/1997(H3N8) strain, the other mutations were involved in non conserved sites. While the transmembrane domain (TM) of the strain A/equine/Essaouira/3/2004(H3N8) exhibits a substitution at residue C/1992/F. For the A/equine/Nador/1/1997(H3N8) strain the HA2 shows a mutation at residue M/2072/L. Three Moroccan strains reveals a common substitution at the residue E/2112/Q located between transmembrane domain TM and the cytoplasmic domain (CD). CONCLUSION: The given nature virulence of three Moroccan strains, the identified and reported mutations certainly played a permissive role of infection viral process.