The study was conducted to assess the effect of heat stress on the meat production and quality variables in indigenous Malabari breed goats. The study was conducted during 45 days using twelve 10 months to one year old Malabari goats. The goats were randomly allocated into two groups: MC (n = 6; Malabari control) and MHS (n = 6; Malabari Heat stress). The MC group animals were housed inside the shed without exposure to outside environment while the MHS group animals were exposed to summer heat stress by keeping them outside the shed from 10:00 h to 16:00 h. At the end of the study, animals were slaughtered and their meat characteristics were assessed. The findings from the study revealed that heat stress caused significant reduction in live weight (P < 0.05), pre-slaughter weight (P < 0.01), hot carcass weight (P < 0.05), loin eye area (LEA) (P < 0.01), and fat score (P < 0.01). Fore saddle is the only primal cut which was significantly (P < 0.05) lower in weight in MHS as compared to MC group. Further, meat quality variables such as ultimate meat pH, water holding capacity (WHC) and shear force significantly (P < 0.01) increased during heat stress. Among the sensory characteristics, appearance (P < 0.01) and flavour (P < 0.05) reduced significantly in MHS group. However, plasma leptin level was significantly (P < 0.01) higher in MHS group. In addition, the skeletal muscle myostatin gene expression pattern was significantly (P < 0.05) lower while HSP70 gene expression was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in MHS as compared to MC group. Thus, it may be concluded from the study that indigenous Malabari goats possessed the inherent ability to maintain meat production by overcoming the adverse effects of heat stress. However, the severity of heat stress was reflected on the meat quality variables in this breed.

该研究旨在评估热应激对本土马拉巴里品种山羊的肉产量和质量变量的影响。该研究使用 12 只 10 个月至 1 岁的马拉巴里山羊在 45 天内进行。山羊随机分为两组：MC（n = 6；马拉巴里对照）和 MHS（n = 6；马拉巴里热应激）。MC 组动物被圈养在棚屋内，不暴露于外部环境，而 MHS 组动物通过将它们从 10:00 h 至 16:00 h 保持在棚屋外而暴露于夏季热应激。在研究结束时，屠宰动物并评估它们的肉特性。研究结果显示，热应激导致活重（P < 0.05）、屠宰前体重（P < 0.01）、热胴体重（P < 0.05）、腰眼面积 (LEA) (P < 0.01) 和脂肪评分 (P < 0.01)。与 MC 组相比，前鞍座是唯一的原始切割，其在 MHS 中的重量显着（P < 0.05）较低。此外，在热应激期间，肉类质量变量，如最终肉类 pH 值、持水能力 (WHC) 和剪切力显着增加 (P < 0.01)。在感官特征中，MHS 组外观（P < 0.01）和风味（P < 0.05）显着降低。然而，MHS 组的血浆瘦素水平显着升高（P < 0.01）。此外，与 MC 组相比，MHS 中骨骼肌肌肉生长抑制素基因表达模式显着（P < 0.05）较低，而 HSP70 基因表达显着（P < 0.05）较高。因此，从研究中可以得出结论，土著马拉巴里山羊具有通过克服热应激的不利影响来维持肉类生产的内在能力。然而，热应激的严重程度反映在该品种的肉质变量上。