Iraqi Journal of Veterinary Sciences

Adulteration and incorrect labeling of meat products became a matter of great concerns of religious, economical, legal and medical aspects. Among meat products, kebab is considered one of the most favorable in Iraq, which makes it prone to adulteration. This study was carried out to evaluate the quality of kebab by detecting the origin of animal species meat in it; using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) based Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) under laboratory conditions. For this purpose kebab was prepared as per the standardized processing schedule using pure mutton and beef meat in ratio 80:20 and chicken meat in five ratios ;70:20:10, 65:20:15, 60:20:20,55:20:25 and 50:20:30, respectively. DNA was extracted successfully from pure species meat and from all mixed kebab above, then PCR was carried out using species-specific primers, to amplify mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) gene. The results revealed specific amplified fragments with 133, 300 and 585 bp for pure chicken, beef and sheep, respectively, and in the mixed grilled samples, the detection limit of chicken was 10%, indicating that the cooking (grinding) and addition of non-meat ingredients showed no effect on the detection of meat species. The results of this study proved mtDNA-PCR to be effective and reliable for detecting the origin of animal species meat . This method of detection could be applied in quality control laboratories for detect adulteration in different kinds of traditional grilled kebab in Iraqi restaurants.

To investigate the effect of dietary supplementation of Ground Flaxseed (GF) on performance and carcass characteristics of Karadi male lambs. Flaxseed was used in feeding period that lasted for 90 days using twelve ram Karadi lambs, at 6 months old, which divided into 3 equal groups (4 rams/group). The lambs were randomly allocated into three treatments to receive either control ration (no Ground flaxseed), or ration containing 4% Ground Flaxseed (T1), or diet containing 8% Ground Flaxseed (T2). All the lambs were received an equal daily allowance of concentrate ration (3% of the body weight). At the end of feeding trial (8 weeks), all the lambs were slaughtered. They were weighed immediately before slaughter to provide slaughter body weight (SBW). Immediately after skinning, evisceration was carried out and the carcass components were weighted. Then several quantity characteristics for carcasses were studied, which include: hot carcass weight (HCW), dressing percentage, thickness of subcutaneous fat, rib eye area, partition and cutting of Carcass. Data were analyzed using XL Stat. The results showed that GF has no significant effect on live body weight, hot carcass weight, and dressing percentage %, it also has no significant differences on some carcass cuts for example: leg, shoulder, loin, rack, fore shank and neck. On the other hand, GF supplementation caused a significant (P<0.01) decrease in Sub-fat thickness which was 3.695 ± 0.629 and 2.375 ± 0.191in T1 and T2 respectively in comparison to control group 5.015 ± 0.049 mm. Rib eye area increased significantly (P<0.05) in T1 and T2 treatments (12.035±0.205 and 14.145 ± 0.955 respectively) compared to control (10.005 ±1.039 cm²). Some of the carcass cuts, Breast and Flank, decreased significantly (P<0.05) in T2 compared to T1 and Control. In conclusion, GF supplementation significantly decrease breast and flank cuts, while rib eye area significantly increased. However, the decrease in fat thickness may be reflecting the decrease in fat percentages in the carcass that indicates the effect of GF in improvement of carcass traits.