Effect of docking and diet energy on carcass fat characteristics in fat-tailed Baluchian sheep
2009
Moharrery, A., Shahrekord University, Agricultural College, Shahrekord (Iran). Div. of Animal Science
Effects of docking on carcass fat characteristics were studied in fat-tailed sheep. Male lambs were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group was docked after birth using rubber rings, and the tails of the other group were left intact (control). After weaning, 20 lambs from each group were divided into 2 subgroups; one subgroup was fed with a normal energy diet (10.25 MJ/kg ME) and the other one with a high-energy diet (11.42 MJ/kg ME) for 84 days. At the end of the fattening period, 28 lambs were slaughtered for determination of warm carcass weight (WCW) and other carcass characteristics. At 24 h postmortem samples of meat, omental fat, and caudal fat were taken from chilled (4 °C) carcasses for the assessment of fatty acid (FA) composition. No significant difference (P 0.05) was observed in WCW and omental fat between carcasses of docking and control lambs, but lambs on 2 types of energy diets showed a significant difference (P 0.05). Under these circumstances, docked lambs produced leaner carcasses than intact lambs (P 0.05). Diet energy had a significant effect on average daily gain and daily feed intake (P 0.05). Results showed that the predominant FA in body fat was oleic acid and a significant difference was observed for percentage of FA composition between fat in different parts of body (P 0.05).
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