A Descriptive Study on the Carcass, Muscle, and Offal Yields of the Plains Zebra (Equus quagga) Harvested in Two Seasons

Simple Summary Equine species are not a common protein source in South Africa, despite being popular in European countries. Horses are known for producing highly nutrient-dense, lean meat, with high dressing percentages. An African equine species with promising production potential is the Plains zebra, which has received very little attention in this regard. The Plains zebra is known to produce nutritious lean meat, but little is known about the carcass composition. Due to its natural resistance to foot-and-mouth disease and the lack of current meat export restrictions for African Horse Sickness, Plains zebra meat is a game meat that can thus be exported from South Africa. This makes it an ideal species for meat production, with the game meat industry being heavily focused on growth, expansion, and formalization. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the meat production potential of the Plains zebra by investigating carcass characteristics as well as meat and offal contributions. Dressing percentages were favourably comparable to equine, game, and livestock species. The considerable contribution of the edible by-products and the high muscle yield, indicate that the Plains zebra can potentially be used as a valuable protein source, thereby contributing to food security in especially rural areas of South Africa. This study presents descriptive data on the meat and offal production of Plains zebras harvested in the winter (n = 8) and summer (n = 12) seasons, at different respective locations in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The cold dressing percentages were numerically higher for the winter (58.0 +/- 0.60%) than for the summer-harvested animals (56.60 +/- 0.70%). Heavier internal offal yields were reported for the winter-harvested group (70.76 +/- 21.8 kg) compared to the summer-harvested animals (66.13 +/- 3.78 kg). As harvest season had no influence, pooled data of the percentage contribution of each muscle to cold carcass weight indicated that the Longissimus et lumborum (3.5 +/- 0.18%), semimembranosus (1.6 +/- 0.04%), biceps femoris (2.7 +/- 0.05%) and semitendinosus (0.9 +/- 0.02%) muscles differed significantly in their respective contributions to cold carcass weight. No significant differences were recorded between the contribution of the infraspinatus (0.6 +/- 0.02%), supraspinatus (0.4 +/- 0.03%) and psoas major (0.6 +/- 0.02%) muscles. Carcass and muscle yields, as well as low-cost protein offal yields from this study indicate that the Plains zebra has the potential to be used and distributed as an alternative protein source.

Automated summary

The Plains zebra, an African equine species, has the potential to be a valuable protein source in South Africa. It produces lean meat and has high dressing percentages. The study shows that the Plains zebra can be used as an alternative protein source, contributing to food security.