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RESEARCH ARTICLE

An assessment of sire-breed effects on carcass and meat quality traits of lambs at the ages of 40 and 100 days from Comisana ewes crossed with Suffolk or Bergamasca rams

Pasquale De Palo A , Aristide Maggiolino A B , Pasquale Centoducati A , Giovanna Calzaretti A , Edmondo Ceci A and Alessandra Tateo A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, S.P. per Casamassima, km 3, 70010, Valenzano, BA, Italy.

B Corresponding author. Email: aristide.maggiolino@uniba.it

Animal Production Science 58(10) 1794-1801 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN16673
Submitted: 13 October 2016  Accepted: 7 April 2017   Published: 24 May 2017

Abstract

The aim was to compare lambs at two different ages at slaughter (40 vs 100 days) and three breeds or crossbreeds including an Italian dairy breed (Comisana (Com)) and its crosses with the two meat breeds of Bergamasca (Ber × Com) and Suffolk (Suf × Com) with 20 male lambs per age per breed group. At both slaughter ages, crossbreeds were more productive, with higher liveweight (P = 0.02), carcass weight (P = 0.03) and dressing percentage (P = 0.04) than the Com group. Meat from the younger lambs showed lower C10:0, C14:0 and C22:0 (P < 0.05) and higher C18:1 (P < 0.01) concentrations, resulting in higher monounsaturated fatty acid (P < 0.01) and lower saturated fatty acid (P < 0.01) content. Moreover, their meat has lower redness (a*), yellowness (b*) and chroma (C*) values (P < 0.01). Crossbreeding dairy breed ewes with sires of high meat production breeds improves liveweight and carcass weight. Meat from younger lambs had lower intramuscular fat content and higher concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acid.

Additional keywords: animal production, fatty acids, lamb production, meat nutritive value.


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