Elsevier

Meat Science

Volume 141, July 2018, Pages 66-80
Meat Science

Comparative assessment of heat stress induced changes in carcass traits, plasma leptin profile and skeletal muscle myostatin and HSP70 gene expression patterns between indigenous Osmanabadi and Salem Black goat breeds

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2018.03.015Get rights and content

Abstract

The primary objective of the study was to compare the impact of heat stress on meat production characteristics of Osmanabadi and Salem Black breed goats based on changes in carcass characteristics, meat quality attributes, plasma leptin concentration, skeletal muscle myostatin and heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) gene expression patterns. The goats were randomly distributed into four groups: OSC (n = 6; Osmanabadi Control), OSHS (n = 6; Osmanabadi Heat Stress), SBC (n = 6; Salem Black Control) and SBHS (n = 6; Salem Black Heat Stress). The animals were slaughtered at the end of the study and their meat characteristics were assessed. This study established the impact of heat stress on a wide variety of carcass and meat quality characteristics in OS and SB goat breeds. The results from the study also provided some crucial evidence for a better resilience capacity of Salem Black breed as compared to Osmanabadi goats in maintaining the meat production during heat stress. The study also established plasma leptin and HSP70 genes to be the ideal biomarkers to reflect the impact of heat stress on meat characteristics in indigenous goats.

Introduction

Developing countries constitute substantial small ruminant population and they are considered the major source of the rural economy in these countries (Agarwal, Karim, Kumar, Sahoo, & John, 2014). Small ruminants, especially goats effectively utilize feed, needs low initial investment, require less space for housing, are easy to manage and labour demand is also less (Maitra et al., 2014). Therefore, the contribution of goat production to the livelihood of poor and marginal farmers, especially in developing countries, is well recognized (Maitra et al., 2014; Shilja et al., 2016).

Goats are important from the current climate change perspective compared to other livestock species due to its superior capability to survive in any agro-ecological zone because of their small size, skilful grazing behaviour, higher disease resistance, drought tolerance, and high feed conversion efficiency (Debele et al., 2013; Shilja et al., 2016). In a tropical country like India, goats can effectively tackle the feed scarcity and water shortage arising as a result of climatic extremes. Furthermore, the extent of their contribution in meeting the food demands of the rural poor is often underestimated. Goats are also considered to be the most suitable species from the climate change perspectives for ensuring the livelihood security of the poor and marginal farmers.

The livestock meat and carcass quality characteristics are governed by several intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The intrinsic factors that affect the meat quality in ruminants include species, breed, age, weight at slaughter and gender (male, female, castrated). Similarly, the extrinsic factors affecting the meat quality include stress (environmental effect, transportation and handling), diet and weaning (Guerrero, Velandia Valero, Campo, & Sañudo, 2013). Among the environmental factors, heat stress was identified as the major pre-disposing factor in negatively affecting the livestock meat production (Nardone, Ronchi, Lacetera, Ranieri, & Bernabucci, 2010). However, literatures pertaining to impacts of heat stress on livestock meat production are inadequate and warrants further detailed studies to gather information to project the adversities associated with heat stress on meat industries. The limited literatures available in these lines clearly point towards the adverse impacts of heat stress on the overall meat yield, quality and composition (Gregory, 2010; Kadim et al., 2008). Heat stress also declines the muscle pH which in turn affects all the physico-chemical attributes such as cooking loss, water holding capacity (WHC), meat colour and shear force (Gregory, 2010). In addition, the severity of heat stress was also established at the cellular level in inducing changes in the expression of genes, such as heat shock proteins (HSPs), that play a role in the growth performance of livestock (Chauhan, Celi, Fahri, Leury, & Dunshea, 2014).

The heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) is one of the most abundant and best characterized HSP family that consists of highly conserved stress proteins, expressed in response to stress, and plays crucial roles in environmental stress tolerance and adaptation in goat (Banerjee et al., 2014; Gupta, Kumar, Dangi, & Jangir, 2013; Mohanarao et al., 2014). Further, it is an established fact that HSP70 expression increases during heat stress in goat (Dangi et al., 2012a, Dangi et al., 2012b; Banerjee et al., 2014). Enhanced HSP70 expression in heat stressed animals may be a response to stressful environments and may improve cell survival by protecting proteins from degradation and facilitating their refolding (Dangi et al., 2014). Dangi et al. (2014) also reported HSP70 could play an important role during the initial phase of heat stress acclimation in goats. However, not much research reports available correlating HSP70 expression to livestock meat production characteristics.

The breed is an important factor which determines the morphology of the carcass in terms of maintaining the meat quality and fat quantity, and is the basis for comparing and identifying the choice of breed for goat production in specific agro-ecological zone. Breed factor also was found to influence the chemical composition (amino acid, moisture, total fats, proteins, ash), cooking loss and sensory attributes of chevon (Ivanovic et al., 2014). However, researches in this area pertaining to the influence of breed on goat carcass characteristics are inadequate.

Research reports addressing the impact of shifting an adapted breed from a very harsh climatic condition to a location with a relatively less magnitude of heat stress on the meat production potential is negligible. Such efforts are very crucial as the scientific community attempt to identify the most suitable breed to a specific agro-ecological zone in an effort to sustain meat production in the changing climate scenario. In this line, the study was designed to delineate the underlying biological mechanisms by which heat stress influences the meat characteristics of two indigenous Osmanabadi and Salem Black goat breeds. Salem Black breed is well known for its survival in the hot humid tropical environment. Therefore, this study to assess the impact of heat stress on the meat quality in the two indigenous goat breeds in a comparative mode with the Salem Black breed brought to the native zone of Osmanabadi goats. The primary objective of the study was to assess the impact of heat stress on the meat production characteristics of Osmanabadi and Salem Black goats based on changes in carcass characteristics, meat quality attributes, plasma leptin profile and skeletal muscle myostatin and HSP70 gene expression patterns.

Section snippets

Location

The experiment was conducted at the National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology experimental livestock farm (NIANP), Bengaluru, India, which is located at the longitude 77° 38′E and the latitude of 12° 58′N and at altitude of 920 m above mean sea level. The average annual maximum and minimum ambient temperature in this geographical region ranges between 15 and 36 °C. The mean annual relative humidity (RH) ranges between 20 and 85%. The experiment was conducted during the summer months

Temperature-humidity index and other stress variables

The THI index calculated clearly indicated that the animals exposed to outside environment faced severe heat shock as the values recorded during the afternoon was 86.5 (Fig. 1). The RT recorded both during day 0 and day 45 is illustrated in Fig. 2. The RT did not differ both during day 0 and day 45 in control groups of both the breeds. However, in the heat stress groups the RT increased significantly (P < 0.01) in both breeds. A strong positive correlation (P < 0.01) was also established

Discussion

The THI index calculated clearly indicated that the animals exposed to outside environment faced severe heat shock as the values recorded during the afternoon was 86.5 and as per McDowell (1972) any THI values above 78 are considered extreme heat stress to animals. The RT increased both in OSHS and SBHS groups as compared to their respective control groups. This indicates that the animals were experiencing severe heat shock during heat stress exposure. This shows that the stress model followed

Conclusion

This study established the impact of heat stress on a wide variety of carcass and meat quality characteristics in OS and SB goat breeds. The results from the study also provided some crucial evidence for a better resilience capacity of Salem Black breed as compared to Osmanabadi goats in maintaining the meat production during heat stress. The study also identified plasma leptin and HSP70 genes could serve as ideal biological markers for assessing the impact of heat stress on meat quality in

Acknowledgement

The authors are most grateful to the Director, ICAR-National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology for providing the research facilities to complete this study. The authors are also thankful to the PG students from the Department of Livestock Product Technology, Hebbal Veterinary College, Karnataka Veterinary Animal and Fishery Sciences University, Hebbal, Bangalore, India for helping us with animal slaughter and carcass variables recording. The authors are highly thankful to the Indian

References (85)

  • I.T. Kadim et al.

    The influence of seasonal temperatures on meat quality characteristics of hot-boned, m. psoas major and minor, from goats and sheep

    Meat Science

    (2008)
  • L.S. Lopes et al.

    Meat quality and fatty acid profile of Brazilian goats subjected to different nutritional treatments

    Meat Science

    (2014)
  • Q. Lu et al.

    Effect of chronic heat exposure on fat deposition and meat quality in two genetic types of chicken

    Poultry Science

    (2007)
  • X. Ma et al.

    Nutritional regulation for meat quality and nutrient metabolism of pigs exposed to high temperature environment

    Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences

    (2015)
  • L. Min et al.

    Long-term heat stress induces the inflammatory response in dairy cows revealed by plasma proteome analysis

    Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications

    (2016)
  • V. Muchenje et al.

    Meat quality of Nguni, Bonsmara and Aberdeen Angus steers raised on natural pasture in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

    Meat Science

    (2008)
  • A. Nardone et al.

    Effects of climate changes on animal production and sustainability of livestock systems

    Livestock Science

    (2010)
  • C. Santos et al.

    Incidence of different pork quality categories in a Portuguese slaughterhouse: A survey

    Meat Science

    (1994)
  • A.R. Sen et al.

    Carcass yield, composition and meat quality attributes of sheep and goat under semiarid conditions

    Meat Science

    (2004)
  • E.C. Webb et al.

    Goat meat quality

    Small Ruminant Research

    (2005)
  • T. Xing et al.

    Expression of heat shock protein 70 in transport-stressed broiler pectoralis major muscle and its relationship with meat quality

    Animal

    (2017)
  • Z.Y. Zhang et al.

    Effects of constant and cyclic heat stress on muscle metabolism and meat quality of broiler breast fillet and thigh meat

    Poultry Science

    (2012)
  • A.R. Agarwal et al.

    Sheep and goat production: Basic differences, impact on climate and molecular tools for rumen microbiome study

    International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences

    (2014)
  • R. Agarwal et al.

    Leptin: A biomolecule for enhancing livestock productivity

    Indian Journal of Biotechnology

    (2009)
  • G. Alexandre et al.

    The offal components and carcass measurements of Creole kids of Guadeloupe under various feeding regimes

    Livestock Research for Rural Development

    (2010)
  • AOAC

    Official method of analysis

  • N. Assan

    Some factors influencing dressing percentage in goat meat production

    Scientific Journal of Review

    (2015)
  • S.A. Babikerm et al.

    Chemical composition and quality attributes of goat meat and lamb

    Meat Science

    (1990)
  • R. Barzehkar et al.

    Polymorphisms of the ovine leptin gene and its association with growth and carcass traits in three Iranian sheep breeds

    Iranian Journal of Biotechnology

    (2009)
  • K.L. Blaine et al.

    The effects of shade on performance, carcass classes and behaviour of heat-stressed feedlot cattle at the finisher phase

    Tropical Animal Health and Production

    (2011)
  • H. De Boer et al.

    Manual on E.A.A.P. reference methods for the assessment of carcass characteristics in cattle

    Livestock Production Science

    (1974)
  • F.C. Buchanan et al.

    Association of a missense mutation in the bovine leptin gene with carcass fat content and leptin mRNA levels

    Genetics Selection Evolution

    (2002)
  • I. Cassar-Malek et al.

    Expression marker-based strategy to improve beef quality

    Scientific World Journal

    (2016)
  • E. Chacon et al.

    Morphological measurements and body indices for Cuban Creole goats and their crossbreds

    Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia

    (2011)
  • S.S. Chauhan et al.

    Dietary antioxidants at supranutritional doses modulate skeletal muscle heat shock protein and inflammatory gene expression in sheep exposed to heat stress

    Journal of Animal Science

    (2014)
  • H.S. Cheong et al.

    Leptin polymorphisms associated with carcass traits of meat in Korean cattle

    Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences

    (2006)
  • A.Y. Chulayo et al.

    The effects of pre-slaughter stress and season on the activity of plasma creatine kinase and mutton quality from different sheep breeds slaughtered at a smallholder abattoir

    Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences

    (2013)
  • S.S. Dangi et al.

    Expression of HSPs: An adaptive mechanism during long-term heat stress in goats (Capra hircus)

    International Journal of Biometeorology

    (2015)
  • S.S. Dangi et al.

    Expression profile of HSP genes during different seasons in goats (Capra hircus)

    Tropical Animal Health and Production

    (2012)
  • S.S. Dangi et al.

    Expression profile of HSP genes during different seasons in goats (Capra hircus)

    Tropical Animal Health and Production

    (2012)
  • S.S. Dangi et al.

    Impact of short-term heat stress on physiological responses and expression profile of HSPs in Barbari goats

    International Journal of Biometeorology

    (2014)
  • A.K. Das et al.

    Comparative study on carcass characteristics and meat quality of three Indian goat breeds

    The Indian Journal of Animal Sciences

    (2010)
  • Cited by (55)

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text