Impacts of heavy metal-contaminated feed on growing goats: nutrient digestibility, metal absorption, tissue accumulation, meat quality, and carcass characteristics.

Introduction: In areas affected by heavy metal contamination, the potential transfer of these metals from feed into animal products during digestion is a major concern. Methods: Twenty-four Xiangdong black male goats were equally assigned to three experimental groups (8 goats per group) using a completely randomized design for 60 days. The experimental groups were formulated by incorporating Paddy A, B, and C (containing low [LHM], medium [MHM], and high [HHM] levels of heavy metals, respectively) at 33% of the total diet. Results: The results revealed a nonsignificant decrease ( Conclusion: This study demonstrates that, under the current experimental conditions, incorporating paddy cultivated in soils contaminated with heavy metals into Xiangdong black male goat diets for short periods (60 days), without adverse effects on productive performance or health status, and the resulting animal products remained safe for human consumption. However, long-term studies involving different animal species under diverse climatic conditions are required to validate these findings before considering any practical application in livestock production systems.