Abstract
Abstract. In this study, we aimed to determine the slaughter-carcass characteristics, meat quality, and fatty acid composition in lambs raised under intensive and extensive conditions. The animal material consisted of 30 Norduz male lambs, with an average age of 171 days. The lambs were divided into two groups: concentrate-fed lambs (CO) and pasture-fed lambs (PS). The results showed that the CO lambs had heavier carcasses (p< 0.001), a higher dressing percentage (p< 0.001), and higher intramuscular fat (p< 0.01) than the PS lambs. It was determined that the longissimus thoracis muscle of the CO lambs had a lower ultimate pH and higher L* and water-holding capacity than the PS lambs. In this study, intramuscular fat (longissimus thoracis, semimembranosus, triceps brachii), subcutaneous and tail fat samples were used to evaluate the effect of feeding system on fatty acid composition. The polyunsaturated fatty acid to saturated fatty acid ratio (PUFA ∕ SFA) of intramuscular fat was found to be significantly higher in the CO group than in the PS lambs, while similar subcutaneous and tail fat results were found in both groups. Moreover, the PS lambs had a lower n6 ∕ n3 ratio and higher percentage of omega-3 than the CO lambs in all tissues studied (p< 0.05). Overall, the CO lambs have heavier and fattier carcasses with better meat quality traits than the PS lambs. However, the effects of feeding system have varying results based on the fatty acid composition of different types of fat deposits.
Highlights
Carcass and meat quality are dependent on many factors and one of the most important environmental factors amongst these is the feeding system
The concentrate-fed lambs (CO) lambs had significantly higher omental–mesenteric fat (226.3 vs. 118.49 g; p< 0.05) and kidney-knob and channel fat (175.0 vs. 114.4 g; p< 0.05) than the pasture-fed lambs (PS) lambs, whereas the percentages of fat recorded at the slaughter and cold carcass weights were found to be similar between the two groups (Table 2)
The results of this study showed that the feeding system had an important effect in terms of the many characteristics examined
Summary
Carcass and meat quality are dependent on many factors and one of the most important environmental factors amongst these is the feeding system. Previous studies that predominantly compared pasture vs grain feeding indicated that growth performance and carcass characteristics (Carrasco et al, 2009b; Ripoll et al, 2008), meat quality traits, such as color (Priolo et al, 2001; Ripoll et al, 2008), water-holding capacity (WHC) (Santos-Silva et al, 2002b), sensory characteristics (Duckett et al, 2013; Fisher et al, 2000), fatty acid (FA) profile (Karaca and Kor, 2015; Nuernberg et al, 2008), and oxidative stability (Popova, 2007), can be affected by feeding systems. Ruminal biohydrogenation is the main factor in modifying dietary unsaturated fatty acids, the n-3 FA content differences between pasture and concentrate, in particular, make the feeding system important. Increasing n-3 FA content is the common goal of the strategies to improve the lipid profile of meat (Bessa et al, 2015)
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