Abstract

The Brazilian sheep farming sector suffers from low productivity, related to the extensive animal production system and low availability of native fodder during most of the year. An alternative to the systems would be the use of a diet without roughage, allowing greater weight gain and better quality carcasses. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of diets containing different proportions of grains on the quality of carcass and meat of lambs as well as the economic indices of various diets. Three diets containing different proportions of concentrate and roughage (100:0, 80:20, and 60:40) were supplied. The concentrate comprised 85% whole-grain corn and 15% commercial pelletized supplement. Twenty-four male lambs (no racial pattern; average body weight, 20.9 ± 1.0 kg; age, 6 months) were randomly allotted to three collective bays for 52 days. Subsequently, the animals were slaughtered, and further analyses were performed. The diet with 100% concentrate achieved overall higher carcass yield, lower weight loss on cooking, and greater lipid oxidation. However, no diet affected weight gain, slaughter weight, carcass length and thorax depth, pH, temperature, color, water-holding capacity, and meat shear force (P > 0.05). The best economic indices were obtained with the diet containing 100% concentrate. Therefore, based on the results obtained, the use of 100% concentrated diet for lambs is the most suitable practice to improve the sheep production from a productive and economic point of view.

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