Lamb ’ s growth and carcass characteristics as affected by herbaceous or woody pasture in Tunisian North West
2014
Mekki, I | Smeti, S | Hajji, H | Mahouachi, M | Trabelsi, A | Atti, N
The aim of this work was to study the effect of rearing system of two mountainous areas, Ain Dra - ham of Woody Pasture (WP) and Fernana of Herbaceous Pasture (HP) on growth and carcass composition of lambs. The WP is characterized by an uneven distribution of plant biomass, with Quercus suber dominates the shrubby stratum which in turn dominates the herbaceous during the period of low rainfall, by cons HP is characterized by grasses and clover. Animals of both regions were fed exclusively on pasture which amount and value depends on the production potential of the rearing systems. They were weighted monthly from birth until 4 months age where 10 lambs from each region were slaughtered and the left shoulders were dissected. The final live weight and average daily gain were affected by pasture type. The slaughter body weight was 28.6 kg and 23.8 kg for HP and WP respectively. The carcass weight was higher (p equal than 0.003) on HP than WP (14.1 vs 10.9 kg). Consequently, the commercial yield was 49 per cent for HP and 46 per cent for WP. Fat content was 11 and 15 per cent for WP and HP, respectively, while bone content was higher for sheep from WP. The WP group presents a higher quantity of muscle than HP group (64 per cent vs 62 per cent). This composition resulted from the difference in the slaughter body weight
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