Enhancing nutritional quality and antioxidant capacity of organic goat meat through sustainable sea-buckthorn and Russian olive leaf–based feeding systems

As consumer demand for organic products increases, understanding how organic diet influences meat characteristics can provide an insight into enhancing the health benefits and sustainability of goat farming. This study explored an approach to produce premium organic goat meat enriched with superior nutritional qualities by incorporating sea-buckthorn (SBT) and Russian olive leaves (ROL) into the feeding regimen over a 6-month period. During the evening feeding period, four feeding regimes were administrated to the subjects MS (i) consisting of alfalfa hay and grass; MS (ii) consisting of SBT leaves; MS (iii) comprising of ROL; and MS (iv) involving a mixed ration of Russian olive and SBT leaves. These interventions were implemented to evaluate comparative nutritional efficacy under controlled circumstances. In the feed analysis, SBT leaves showed high crude protein content (19.02%) and dry matter (92.79%), while grass hay and alfalfa hay had higher ash content (10.01 and 9.19%) and fiber content (24.82%) in alfalfa hay. Fiber was lowest in SBT leaves (2.65%), highlighting their potential as a rich-feed protein source. Furthermore, the meat from different treatments were analyzed for physiochemical, antioxidant, and mineral content. Highly significant effects were observed for mass of carcass, and MS (i) scored maximum weight gain (3.73 kg), protein contents, fats, and ash. MS (iv) scored the maximum thiobarbituric acid reactive substance, DPPH, and phenolic of 67.52 μmol TE/g, 38.89 μmol MDA/g, and 50.60 mg GAE/g for different treatments while non-significant effects for moisture, fat, and ABTS were observed for different feeding systems. Based on the findings of the current study, it can be suggested that MS (iv) scored the highest rank among the management systems tested, while the meat obtained from the MS (iv) approach had good nutritional value, which could improve and fulfill nutritional requirements of the consumers.