Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of ambient temperatures on carcass characteristics of lambs fed concentrate diets with or without NaHCO3 supplementation. A slaughter study was carried on 12 male Black Belly Barbados lambs randomly drawn from a growth trial (35 weeks). The lambs were divided into four equal groups and allotted in a 2×2 factorial design. The lambs were allotted at random to two dietary treatments of a basal diet (35:65 roughage:concentrate) or basal diet supplemented with 4% NaHCO3 at different ambient temperatures (20°C and 30°C) in an environment controlled chamber for 10 days. Lambs were slaughtered for carcass evaluation at about 262 days of age (245 days of growth trial, 7 days adaptation and 10 days of experimental period). Ambient temperature had significant (p<0.05, p<0.05, p<0.01, and p<0.001) effects on meat color from the ribeye area (REA), fat, leg and longissimus dorsi muscles with higher values recorded for lambs in the lower temperature group than those from the higher ambient temperature group. Significant differences (p<0.05) in shear force value (kg/cm2) recorded on the leg muscles showed higher values (5.32 vs 4.16) in lambs under the lower ambient temperature group compared to the other group. Dietary treatments had significant (p<0.01, p<0.01, and p<0.05) effects on meat color from the REA, fat, and REA fat depth (cm2) with higher values recorded for lambs in the NaHCO3 supplementation group than the non supplemented group. Similarly, dietary treatments had significant differences (p<0.05) in shear force value (kg/cm2) of the leg muscles with the NaHCO3 groups recording higher (5.30 vs 4.60) values than those from the other group. Neither ambient temperature nor dietary treatments had any significant (p>0.05) effects on pH, and water holding capacity on both muscles. These results indicated that NaHCO3 supplementation at low ambient temperatures had caused an increase in carcass characteristics leading to significant effect on meat quality.
Highlights
The value of meat animals lies in the acceptability in the market, and many factors such as nutrition or dietary manipulation have been reported (Mahgoub et al, 2000; Joy et al, 2008) to exert several influences on the carcass conformation, fatness degree, organs and certain muscles in sheep, thereby influencing the customer’s public decisions when selecting fresh meat product
High ambient temperatures combined with relative humidity, air movement and solar radiation causes animal body temperature to rise above the upper critical temperature
The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of ambient temperatures on carcass characteristics of lambs fed concentrate diets with or without NaHCO3 supplementation
Summary
The value of meat animals lies in the acceptability in the market, and many factors such as nutrition or dietary manipulation have been reported (Mahgoub et al, 2000; Joy et al, 2008) to exert several influences on the carcass conformation, fatness degree, organs and certain muscles in sheep, thereby influencing the customer’s public decisions when selecting fresh meat product. High ambient temperatures combined with relative humidity, air movement and solar radiation causes animal body temperature to rise above the upper critical temperature. This may cause several physiological side effects and economic impact on animal output (Kadim et al, 2008). High ambient temperatures may affect muscle glycogen level and subsequent ultimate pH, which could present one of the significant factors which cause deterioration of meat quality characteristics. To avoid such incidence, several nutritional therapies have been suggested including the use of dietary buffers
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