Abstract
The number of sheep flocks in Brazil is increasing. It is known that lambs must be slaughtered when young for producing quality meat. The current study evaluated the inclusion of protected methionine, protected lysine, lysophospholipid and amylolytic enzymes in a diet to lambs and their effects on weight gain and quantitative carcass traits at slaughtering. Eighty non-castrated male crossbred Dorper x Santa Inês lambs, 20.57 ± 4.33 kg live weight, were used. The feedlot lasted 64 days and 60 animals were slaughtered. There were no differences for live weight, daily feed intake, feed conversion and average daily weight gain at the first 28 days of feedlot. From the 28th day lysophospholipid treatment presented the highest live weight. Lysophospholipid and amylolytic enzyme presented the best performance in average daily gain, followed by protected methionine, control and protected lysine. Lysophospholipid treatment presented higher daily feed intake rates than protected lysine and protected methionine. Feed conversion was lower for amylolytic enzyme and higher for control. No changing in carcass traits was reported due to additives. Better performance may be achieved with feedlot lambs fed on diets with the addition of amylolytic enzyme and lysophospholipid at the finishing phase.
Highlights
The Brazilian sheep herd lies at approximately 17.4 million and data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) show a countrywide rising trend in sheep production during the last decades (IBGE 2010).Since sheep and goats, among ruminants, have the smallest interval between birth and slaughter (Soares et al 2012), this fact should be underpinned as an opportunity to produce quality meat intensively
There was no difference between treatments for all variables during the first period
Best Feed conversion (FC) was achieved by the ENZ treatment at the second period; LYS and CON had the worst results
Summary
The Brazilian sheep herd lies at approximately 17.4 million and data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) show a countrywide rising trend in sheep production during the last decades (IBGE 2010). Among ruminants, have the smallest interval between birth and slaughter (Soares et al 2012), this fact should be underpinned as an opportunity to produce quality meat intensively. Young animals have better meat quality and feed efficiency (Macedo et al 2007). The confinement of sheep is an interesting alternative for management, and aims at providing a standardized product of excellent quality throughout the year. The system requires more investments in electric energy, infrastructure and labor (Soares et al 2012). That sheep confinement could be made viable, sheep breeds or crosses, either specialized in meat production and food additives or with better zootechnical performances, should be acquired
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