Consumer sensory evaluation of meat from South African goat genotypes fed on a dietary supplement

The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of genotype and supplementary feeding on sensory scores of chevon from different indigenous goat genotypes prepared using different thermal treatments. 48 6-month-old Xhosa lop-eared (XLE), Nguni (NGN), Xhosa-Boer cross (XBC) and Boer (BOR) castrated goats with a body weight range of between 20 and 25 kg was used in the study. Half of the goats were supplemented with 200 g per head per day of sunflower cake. A consumer sensory evaluation was done with consumers of different ages, tribes and gender. In the non-supplemented XLE and BOR goats, the aroma intensity scores of the fried meat were significantly higher than the cooked meat. Female respondents gave higher (P < 0.05) scores than male respondents for both cooked and fried meat on aroma intensity. Shona consumers gave higher (P < 0.05) aroma intensity scores than the Xhosa and the Zulu consumers for both cooked and fried meat. In the non-supplemented goats, fried meat for all the genotypes was superior (P < 0.05) to the cooked meat for initial impression of juiciness. The age and gender of respondents and thermal treatment influenced initial impression of juiciness scores (P < 0.05). In meat from the non-supplemented XLE and NGN goats, the consumers gave higher (P < 0.05) muscle fibre and overall tenderness scores in cooked meat than the fried meat.Key words: Dietary supplementation, fried chevon, cooked chevon, Xhosa lop-eared goats, Nguni goats, Boer goats