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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The main purpose of this work was to compare two breeds of improved rams (Suffolk and Merino Precoce) with the local Galego Bragancano breed for the prodtuction of crossbred slaughter lambs and to evaluate which cross was move adapted for meat production from the local breed in locations in the north-east of Portugal. The experiment was carried out over a 4-year period in three locations: (1) a farm with an intensive management; (2) an upland farm (400 to 600 m); and (3) a hill farm (above 800 m). Within each flock with 90 Galego Bragancano ewes, two rams of each of the sire breeds were used: Galego Bragancano, Suffolk and Merino Precoce. The lambs were slaughtered at 20 and 40 kg, to obtain the carcass weight range of 8 to 14 kg. The left sides of 151 carcasses were dissected into muscle, subcutaneous fat, intermuscular fat and bone. The lambs from location 1 had the highest carcass muscle proportion and the lowest carcass intermuscular fat proportion; their differences over locations 2 and 3 were 13 and 16 g/kg for muscle proportion and 11 and 19 g/kg for intermuscular fat proportion, respectively. The differences between breeds were relatively small and not significant. However the Suffolk crosses had less kidney, knob and channel fat than the other genotypes (5 and 12 g/kg less than Merino crosses and Bragancano, respectively). The Suffolk crosses tended to have less body fat.
Description
Keywords
Body fat Carcass composition Crossbreeding lambs Farm comparisons Lamb
Citation
Teixeira, A.; Delfa, R.; Treacher, T. (1996). Carcass composition and body fat depots of Galego Bragançano and crossbred lambs by Suffolk and Merino Precoce sire breeds. Animal Science. ISSN 1357-7298. 63:3, p. 389-394
Publisher
British Society of Animal Science