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.
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