How to cite (Vancouver). Coila-Añasco PU, Ruelas-Calloapaza DA, Sánchez-Herencia D, Olaguivel-Flores CA, Coila-Coaquira KA. Castration influence on the chemical composition of alpaca (Vicugna pacos) meat. Rev MVZ Cordoba. 2023; 27(1):e2941. https://doi.org/10.21897/rmvz.2941 2023; january-april. 28(1):e2941. https://doi.org/10.21897/rmvz.2941 Journal MVZ Cordoba Original ISSNL: 0122-0268 ©The Author(s) 2023. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. Castration influence on the chemical composition of alpaca (Vicugna pacos) meat Pedro U. Coila-Añasco 1 * ; Domingo A. Ruelas-Calloapaza 1 ; Diana Sánchez-Herencia 2 ; César A. Olaguivel-Flores 3 ; Kelly A. Coila-Coaquira 4 . 1 Universidad Nacional del Altiplano, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Puno, Perú. 2 Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Cusco, Perú. 3 Universidad Nacional de San Cristóbal de Huamanga, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Ayacucho, Perú. 4 Instituto Tecnológico de la Producción, Centro de Innovación Tecnológica Textil Camélidos, Puno, Perú. *Correspondencia: pcoila@unap.edu.pe Received: July 2022; Accepted: December 2022; Published: January 2023. ABSTRACT 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. Keywords: Alpacas; castration; meat composition; cholesterol (Source: CAB). RESUMEN Objetivo. Determinar la influencia de la castración de alpacas jóvenes sobre la composición centesimal y contenido de colesterol de su carne. Materiales y métodos. Con 20 animales machos, de 1.5 años de edad, de raza Huacaya se formaron grupos de 10 animales: experimental y control. Los del experimental, fueron sometidos a castración bilateral y los del control permanecieron “enteros”. La