Castration influence on the chemical composition of alpaca (Vicugna pacos) meat

Objective. Determine the influence of bilateral castration in young alpacas over the centesimal chemical composition and content in their meet. Materials and methods. A total of 20 male Huacaya breed animals aged about 1.5 years old, were studied in two groups: experimental and control with 10 animals each. The experimental one was subjected to bilateral castration and the control one remained “intact”. The animals' feeding was based on natural pastures from the surrounding area under an extensive rearing system. After six months, the animals were slaughtered and muscle tissue samples were taken from five anatomical regions: neck, arm, ribs, back, and leg. Moisture was determined by oven drying to constant weight, total fat by Soxhlet method, crude protein by Kjeldahl method, ashes by muffle calcination, and cholesterol by the colorimetric method after fat extraction with chloroform/ methanol (2:1). Results. Fat content was higher in castrated animals (2.28%) than in the intact ones (1.82%) (p≤0.01) and varies among different anatomical regions (p≤0.05); humidity is higher in intact animals (76.14%) than in castrated ones (75.45%) (p≤0.01), but it was similar among different anatomical regions (p>0.05); there is no statistical difference in protein, ash, and cholesterol content (p>0.05) with a general average of 20.39%, 1.13%, and 55.56 mg/100 g, respectively. Conclusion Castration effect was evidenced on the centesimal composition of alpaca meat from young males by its fat content increase and humidity decrease.