Animal performance and carcass quality of milk-fed Assaf lambs
2004
Landa, Roberto | Lavín, Paz | Frutos, Pilar | Mantecón, Ángel R. | Giráldez, Francisco Javier
SUMMARY – An experiment was carried out to study the effect of sex and rearing system on growth performance and carcass quality of milk-fed Assaf lambs. A total of 24 lambs, 12 males and 12 females were used. They were slaughtered at 10 kg of body weight. Half of them remained with their mothers throughout the experiment (NR: suckling lambs). The other twelve (AR: artificially reared lambs) were removed from the ewes within 24-36 hours of birth, housed in individual pens and fed ad libitum twice daily (09:00 and 19:00 h) with reconstituted cow's milk (18% of dry matter). There was no significant effect (P > 0.05) of sex on growth rate and carcass quality, except for perirenal-retroperitoneal fat (91 vs 63 g for male and female lambs, respectively). Concerning the effects of the rearing system, NR lambs showed a significant higher growth rate (307 vs 253 g/day) and consequently a lower age at slaughter (19 vs 24 days) than AR lambs (P < 0.05). NR lambs also showed higher values of fatness score (2.9 vs 2.5 points) as well as subcutaneous (7.2 vs 5.7%) and intermuscular fat (7.0 vs 5.6%) in the shoulder. Nevertheless, the rearing system did not affect (P > 0.05) either carcass weight or dressing proportion. Regardless of sex or rearing system effects, carcasses quality was in general suitable for Spanish market.
Show more [+] Less [-]This work was supported by the "Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología" (Proyecto 1FD1997-1898). R. Landa is grateful to the Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (Argentina) for financial assistance under a predoctoral grant.
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