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Carcass characteristics and meat quality of sheep fed alfalfa hay to replace Bermuda grass hay

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate carcass characteristics, meat quality, and organ and viscera weight of forty male sheep, not castrated, initially weighed 26.5 ± 1.85 kg, and confined for 100 days (44 days for the adjustment period and 56 days of the experimental period). The treatments were four levels of replacement of Bermuda grass hay with alfalfa hay (0, 200, 400, and 600 g/kg, based on dry matter). The design was randomized blocks (one lighter group and other heavier group) with 10 animals in each treatment. There were no effects on weight gain or carcass parameters. However, an increase was observed on dry matter intake (g/day), crude protein intake (g/day), empty body weight (kg), and subcutaneous fat thickness (mm). There was also an increase in total organ weights in kg and g/kg. The tissue composition of the leg had a quadratic effect on the bone tissue weight (g) and linear effect on adipose tissue relative (g/kg) and muscle-fat relations. There was also a quadratic effect on bone tissues (g/kg) and muscle-bone relations. Likewise, there was a quadratic effect on the qualitative characteristics of meat (measure of luminosity), with the replacement of Bermuda grass hay with alfalfa hay in sheep feed. The replacement of Bermuda grass hay with alfalfa did not change carcass characteristics and meat quality.

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Funding

The authors would like to thanks the Foundation for Science and Technology Support from Pernambuco (FACEPE) for project financing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Science, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Dom Manuel de Medeiros Street, s/n, Recife, Pernambuco, 52171-900, Brazil

    José Ricardo Coelho da Silva, Francisco Fernando Ramos de Carvalho, Marcelo de Andrade Fereira, Levi Auto Lopes, Eduardo Henrique Araújo Cordeiro & Antonia Sherlânea Chaves Véras

  2. Academic Unit of Serra Talhada, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Gregório Ferraz Nogueira Avenue, s/n, Serra Talhada, Pernambuco, 56909-535, Brazil

    Evaristo Jorge Oliveira de Souza

  3. Department of Domestic Science, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Dom Manuel de Medeiros Street, s/n, Recife, Pernambuco, 52171-900, Brazil

    Maria Inês Sucupira Maciel

  4. Department of Animal Science, Federal University of Sergipe, Engineer Jorge Neto Highway, Silos, Nossa Senhora da Glória, SE, 49680-000, Brazil

    Lígia Maria Gomes Barreto

Authors
  1. José Ricardo Coelho da Silva
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  2. Francisco Fernando Ramos de Carvalho
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  5. Maria Inês Sucupira Maciel
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  6. Lígia Maria Gomes Barreto
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  7. Levi Auto Lopes
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  8. Eduardo Henrique Araújo Cordeiro
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  9. Antonia Sherlânea Chaves Véras
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Correspondence to Antonia Sherlânea Chaves Véras.

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This research was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco for animal experimentation and registered under the reference CEUA/UFRPE 119/2015.

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da Silva, J.R.C., de Carvalho, F.F.R., de Andrade Fereira, M. et al. Carcass characteristics and meat quality of sheep fed alfalfa hay to replace Bermuda grass hay. Trop Anim Health Prod 51, 2455–2463 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-019-01962-7

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