Palmitic Acid in the Diet of Dairy Goats and Its Effect on Physicochemical Characteristics and Fatty Acid Profile of Goat Kid Meat

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of incorporating palmitic acid into the diet of dairy goats on the physicochemical characteristics, nutritional value, and fatty acid profile of goat kid meat. For this, 28 Creole local kids were used, divided into the following treatments: grazing, kids fed milk from grazing goats; base diet, kids fed milk from goats in confinement with a total mixed ration; base diet + 3PA, kids fed milk from goats in confinement that consumed the base diet plus 3% palmitic acid; and base diet + 6PA, kids fed milk from goats in confinement fed with the base diet plus 6% palmitic acid. The feeding period was conducted over a 30-day period. Live weight, average daily gain, carcass weight, and carcass yield were higher (p ≤ 0.01) in kids from the base diet + 6PA treatment than in the other treatments. The proportion of stearic, elaidic, linoleic, CLA, oleic, and docosahexaenoic fatty acids was higher (p ≤ 0.05) in meat from kids fed with grass-fed milk. In contrast, kids from the base diet + 3PA and base diet + 6PA treatments had a higher (p ≤ 0.05) proportion of palmitic and palmitoleic acids. The addition of palmitic acid to goat feed improves growth rate and carcass yield and modifies the fatty acid profile in kid meat.