RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Effects of Birth Weight on Animal Performance, Fattening Traits and Meat Quality of Lambs
A1 Andrés, Sonia
A1 Valdés Solís, Carmen
A1 Santos, Alba
A1 Mateo Oyagüe, Javier
A1 Giráldez, Francisco Javier
A2 Producción Animal
K1 Producción animal
K1 Tecnología de los alimentos
K1 Intrauterine growth restriction
K1 Fetal programming
K1 Feed efficiency
K1 Birth weight
K1 Intramuscular fat
K1 Lamb
K1 Developmental origins of health and disease
K1 3104 Producción Animal
AB [EN] Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a key developmental programming factor which might impair both the feed efficiency of lambs and meat quality, since it deeply impacts skeletal muscle and adipose tissue development. To determine the effect of birth weight on the growth performance, ruminal parameters, digestibility, non-carcass components, carcass traits, physicochemical characteristics and fatty acid profile of meat, two experimental groups (six animals in each group) of male Merino lambs with different body weights (BW) at birth (low BW (LW; 3.88 ± 0.281 kg) and high BW (HW; 5.80 ± 0.647 kg)) were used. The lambs were penned with their corresponding ewe during the natural suckling period, being weaned at 15 kg. Then, the lambs were penned individually and offered a complete pelleted diet during the fattening period. All the animals were slaughtered when they reached 27 kg of BW. After weaning, both daily dry matter intake (578 vs. 615 g/day; p = 0.021) and average daily gain (141 vs. 190 g/day; p = 0.004) were significantly lower in LW lambs, and a higher feed:gain ratio was recorded for this group (3.98 vs. 3.45; p = 0.008). Carcass traits did not show differences (p > 0.05) between both groups of lambs, except for higher chilling losses for the LW group (3.29 vs. 2.69%; p = 0.012). Additionally, higher amounts of kidney knob and channel fat were observed for LW lambs (85.4 vs. 152 g; p = 0.028). Apart from a higher hardness of meat in LW lambs (152 vs. 189 Newtons, p = 0.040), no other differences (p > 0.05) were observed in the physicochemical traits of this product; however, the meat of LW lambs tended (p = 0.057) to contain more total fatty acid content with a higher (p = 0.041) proportion of saturated fatty acids than the meat of HW lambs. In conclusion, under the conditions of the present study, a low body weight at birth increased the deposition of fat in carcass and non-carcass components during the fattening period of lambs, thus reducing animal performance and worsening the nutritional indexes of the meat. Accordingly, it seems reasonable to try to identify these animals during early life, to be sold as suckling lambs in the meat market instead of being fattened
PB MDPI
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10612/21131
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10612/21131
NO Andrés, S., Valdés, C., Santos, A., Mateo, J., & Giráldez, F. J. (2020). Effects of birth weight on animal performance, fattening traits and meat quality of lambs. Animals, 10(12), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.3390/ANI10122364
DS BULERIA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de León
RD Jul 6, 2024