Effects of Slaughter Weight on Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics, and Fatty Acid Composition of Afshari Male Lambs

Subject Areas :

N.   Papi ¹ (Department of Animal Science, Animal Science Research Institute of Iran (ASRI), Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran)
M.   Zahedifar ² (Department of Animal Science, Animal Science Research Institute of Iran (ASRI), Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran)

Received: 2023-12-09 Accepted : 2024-02-08 Published : 2024-06-01

Keywords: Afshari breed, backfat thickness, carcass cuts, longissimus thoracic muscle, slaughter age,

Abstract :

This study aimed to investigate the difference in growth performance and carcass characteristics of lambs slaughtered at 56, 84, 112, and 140 days of age. Thirty-two male fat-tailed Afshari lambs, with an initial body live weight of 30.2 ± 3.6 (SD) kg and an average age of 90 ± 15 (SD) days, were used in this study. The lambs were equally and randomly distributed in 4 groups. The experiment was conducted in four peri-ods, including 56, 84, 112, and 140 days, and the nutrient requirements of lambs in each period were deter-mined using NRC 2007. At the end of each period, four lambs were randomly chosen and slaughtered, and longissimus thoracic muscle (LT) sampled. The results showed that by increasing the weight of slaughter, dry matter intake (DMI), feed conversion ratio (FCR) (i.e., kg DM/kg gain), and empty body weight in-creased, but empty digestive tract decreased linearly. The side carcass cuts (neck, shoulder, brisket-flank, rack-loin, and leg) were unaffected by slaughter weight. By increasing the slaughter weight, backfat thick-ness, LT area increased, and the percentage of dressing, tail fat, and internal fat also increased linearly. As the slaughter weight increased, the ratio of total unsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids (UFA/SFA) decreased in LT fat, but that ratio increased in LT muscle linearly.

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