Abstract
This study examines the impact of two-breed (PXW) and three- breed (PxWxIDF) system of sheep crossing on the results in terms of yield and quality of meat of lambs, weaned at 60 days of age and fattened up to 120 days of age. Study was carried out on the experimental sheep farm of the Institute for Animal Husbandry, Belgrade-Zemun, and the following breeds of sheep were used for crossing: Pirot pramenka (P) W?rttemberg (W) and Ile de France (IDF). As maternal basis the Pirot Pramenka and two breed crosses were used, and as improvement breed - Ile de France rams. Pre-slaughter body mass of two-breed and three-breed crosses was: 32.63 and 34.48 kg. Values of dressing percentage warm carcass with head and offal were: 59.0 and 58.4%. The share of the category I meat on analogue treatments was: 37.07: 37.48%, meat of category II: 33.98: 32.41%, and the meat of category III - 28.69: 26.87%. Meat to bone ratio was: 2.3:1 in two- breed crosses, whereas in the three-breed crosses it was 2.7:1. MLD surface was 11:49 and 11:45 cm2. Regarding the chemical and technological characteristics, there were no significant differences among the treatments (P> 0.05).
Highlights
Analysis of sheep production systems in the world shows that in many countries slaughter lambs are crosses in 30-70% of cases (Mitić, 1984)
Three-breed crossbreds reached by 5.36% higher final body mass compared to the two breed-crosses, which was confirmed statistically (P
The differences found in the yield ranged within the limits of random deviations (P> 0.05), which means that the system of crossing had no significant effect on the studied trait, which can be explained by similar intensity of growth of crosses
Summary
Analysis of sheep production systems in the world shows that in many countries slaughter lambs are crosses in 30-70% of cases (Mitić, 1984). This is understandable considering that the quickest and easiest way to improve growth performance and carcass quality is crossing (Kuchtik et al, 2012). To this end, different breeds and crossbreeding systems are used. In the system of crossing of two breeds of sheep only individual heterosis is used, while in the three-breed crossing systems, to the individual heterosis the heterosis of the mother is added. When the four breed crossing of sheep is used, besides the aforementioned, with 100% the sire heterosis is used.
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