Meat quality, skin damage and reproductive performance of ostriches exposed to extensive human presence and interactions at an early age

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Date

2020

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Springer Nature

Abstract

The effect human presence and interactions performed after hatch to 3 months of age has on ostrich meat quality, skin damage and reproductive performance at a later age was investigated in 416-day-old ostrich chicks. The chicks were allocated to one of the three treatments, which varied with regard to exposure to human presence and care for 3 months post-hatch: HP1—extensive human presence with physical contact (touch, stroking), gentle human voice and visual contact; HP2—extensive human presence with gentle human voice and visual contact without physical contact; S—standard control treatment, where human presence and visual contact were limited to routine management, feed and water supply only. Carcass attributes (carcass weight, dressing percentage and drumstick weight), meat quality traits (pH, colour and tenderness) and skin traits (skin size, skin grading and number of lesions) were evaluated on twenty-four 1-year-old South African Black (SAB) ostriches.

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Keywords

Human–animal relationship, Animal welfare, Production, Struthio camelus, Meat quality

Citation

Engelbrecht, A. et al. (2020). Meat quality, skin damage and reproductive performance of ostriches exposed to extensive human presence and interactions at an early age. Tropical animal health and production ,52(6), 3439-3448