Abstract

Skeletal muscle is a highly organized, complex, and dynamic tissue which provides maintenance of body posture against force by distributing loads and absorbing shocks. In this work efforts were done in bringing up information on some anatomical areas related to camel and cattle musculatures. In this study, forelimbs were obtained from 25 male camels (Camelus dromedarius) and from 25 male cattle (Zebu type) each within the ages of 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and 7 years from Sokoto Municipal Modern abattoir, Sokoto, Nigeria. The triceps brachii, biceps brachii and the deltoideus muscles were dissected out, and their morphometrics (transverse sectional area and densities) determined. Results showed general increment in transverse sectional area values along chronological age advancement of the animals used, with values in cattle ranging from 11.33±0.80cm² (deltoideus of 6 month old cattle) to 209.12±7.16cm² (triceps brachii of 7 year old cattle); and in camel values of 13.83±0.78cm² (deltoideus of 6 month old camel) to 178.90±6.68cm² (triceps brachii of 1 year old camel). Muscle density on the other hand indicated decreased values as the ages of the animals increased, with the camel having values ranging between 0.33±0.03g/cm³ (deltoideus of 7 year old camel) to 2.22±0.13g/cm³ (biceps brachii of 6 month old camel); and in the cattle values of 0.26±0.02g/cm³ (deltoideus of 5 year old camel) to 1.16±0.14g/cm³ (biceps brachii of 6 month old camel). From the overall result shown for camel and cattle, the camel on the averagely had higher values for both transverse sectional area and muscle densities. Results from interaction outcomes, revealed that triceps brachii from 7 year old camel had a significantly highest value of transverse sectional area than those obtained from other muscles across different ages from both species studied. In the same vein, biceps brachii muscle obtained from 6 months old camel had highest value for muscle density. The information obtained in this study may not only advance the course of knowledge in this study field, but could also serve a useful tool in clinical practices as well as in proper planning for animal husbandry, more especially in meat science evaluation and monitoring.

Keywords: Transverse sectional area; Muscle density; Camel; Cattle