EFFECT OF AGE, BODY CONDITION AND POSTSLAUGHTER HANDLING ON SLAUGHTER CHARACTERISTICS AND MEAT QUALITY OF CAMEL (Camelus dromedarius) IN EASTERN ETHIOPIA

Ethiopia having 4.5 million heads of dromedary camels is the third in camel population worldwide. However, studies pertaining to the role of camel as meat animal and its meat quality are not well addressed so far. This dissertation was aimed to investigate the effects of age, body condition, and postslaughter handling on slaughter characteristics and quality of camel meat in eastern Ethiopia. The survey assessed camel meat production potentials and constraints in Shinile district and Dire Dawa (DD) administration using semi-structured questionnaire from randomly selected 246 respondents. Male Issa type dromedary camels were sampled from routinely slaughtered camels at DD abattoir to study slaughter characteristics (140 camels), meat quality, compositions and slaughtering practices (54 camels), and shelf life (SL) and meat quality (18 camels). The camels represented 3 age groups: group 1 (6-10 years), group 2 (11-17 years), and group 3 ( 18 years); and, 3 body conditions (BC) (poor, medium, and good). Age and BC were the factors in 3 of the experiments; but age, NaCl (0, 3 and 6%), and temperature (4 and 23C) were used in one of the experiments. Results showed that camels were slaughtered violating many of the basic requirements of humane and halal slaughtering procedures such as cruelly cutting the Achilles tendon of hindlegs and slaughtering a camel in front of camels waiting the slaughter. Camels had mean live weight (LW) of 334.7 kg. The weights of hot carcass (HCW), edible non-carcass product yield (ENPY), inedible non-carcass product yield (INPY), total consumable product yield (TCPY), and total slaughter weight (TSW) were 186.4, 28.92, 110.7, 215.3, and 326.03 kg, respectively. The LW, HCW, ENPY, INPY, TCPY, and TSW increased (P