• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.865-871
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• 2017

Objective: The aim was to evaluate carcass characteristics, cut yield, and meat quality in lambs that were fed different inclusion levels of palm kernel cake. Methods: Forty-five woolless castrated male Santa $In{\hat{e}}s$ crossbred sheep with an initial average body weight of $23.16{\pm}0.35kg$ were used. The experimental design was a completely randomized design with five treatments, with palm kernel cake in the proportions of 0.0%, 7.5%, 15.0%, 22.5%, and 30.0% with nine replications per treatment. After slaughter, the gastrointestinal tract was weighed when it was full, after which it was then emptied. The heart, liver, kidney, pancreas perirenal fat were also collected and weighed. The carcass was split into two identical longitudinal halves and weighed to determine the quantitative and qualitative characteristics. Results: The empty body weight, carcass weight and yield, and fat thickness decreased linearly (p<0.05) as a function of palm kernel inclusion in the diet. There was no difference (p>0.05) for the rib eye area of animals that were fed palm kernel cake. There was a reduction in the commercial cut weight (p<0.05), except for the neck weight. The weights of the heart, liver, kidney fat, small, and large intestine, and gastrointestinal tract decreased. Nevertheless, the gastrointestinal content was greater for animals that were fed increasing levels of cake. For the other organs and viscera, differences were not verified (p>0.05). The sarcomere length decreased linearly (p<0.05), although an effect of the inclusion of palm kernel cake was not observed in other meat quality variables. It is worth noting that the red staining intensity, indicated as A, had a tendency to decrease (p = 0.050). Conclusion: The inclusion of palm kernel cake up to 30% in the diet does not lead to changes in meat quality characteristics, except for sarcomere length. Nevertheless, carcass quantitative characteristics decrease with the use of palm kernel cake.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.1105-1115
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• 2015

Fifty 3-month-old male Tan lambs (similar in body weight) were divided into 5 groups to investigate the effects of different restricted pasture grazing times and indoor supplementation on the productive performances and fatty acid composition of the intramuscular fat in growing lambs. The lambs grazed for different periods of time (12 h/d, 8 h/d, 4 h/d, 2 h/d, and 0 h) and received various amounts of supplementary feedings during the 120-day trial. Pasture dry matter intake (DMI), total DMI, average daily gains and the live body weights of the lambs were measured during the experiment. The animals were slaughtered at the end of the study, their carcass traits were measured, and their longissimus dorsi muscles were sampled to analyze the intramuscular fat (IMF) content and fatty acid profiles. The results indicated that the different durations of grazing and supplementary feedings affected the animal performances and the composition of fatty acids. Grazing for 8 h/d or 2 h/d with the corresponding supplementary concentrate resulted in lambs with higher body weights, carcass weights and IMF contents. Lambs with longer grazing times and less concentrate accumulated more healthy fatty acids such as conjugated linoleic acid and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid and had higher n-3/n-6 ratios. Overall, a grazing allowance of 8 h/d and the corresponding concentrate was recommended to maintain a high quantity and quality of lamb meat.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.577-582
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• 1995

Sixty ram lambs, weighting 23.5 kg, were randomly assigned in a $2{\times}3$ factorial arrangement of two dietary energy (high; 11.7 and low; 9.0 MJ ME/kg DM) and three levels of poultry offal meal supplementation (0, 5 and 10%). Lambs were fed ad libitum for 120-day before slaughter. At slaughter, half the lambs in each dietary treatment group were randomly selected for electrical stimulation of their undressed carcasses. The M. Biceps femoris pH and temperatures were monitored at 1, 3, 5, 8 and 24 h postmortem. At 24 h postmortem, the M. biceps femoris was removed from the fight side of each carcass and steaks were obtained for determination of Warner-Bratzler shear force, collagen content and collagen solubility. The results showed that temperature and pH values during the 24-h postmortem were consistently higher (p < .01) and lover (p < .01), respectively, for M. biceps femoris from lambs fed high energy diets than for those fed on low energy diets. Muscles from high energy fed lambs had lower (p < .01) shear force values and higher (p < .01) percent soluble collagen than for low energy fed lambs; total collagen content was not significantly influenced by dietary energy level. Increased the level of poultry offal meal supplementation in the diet to 10% was associated with concomitant increases (p < .01) in muscle tenderness and percent soluble collagen. Electrical stimulation (ES) of carcasses resulted in a lower shear force values for the M. biceps femoris than in non-stimulated carcasses (Non-ES); total collagen content and percent soluble collagen were not significantly affected by ES treatment.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.726-732
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• 2014

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of maintenance system as well as the effect of Se, Zn, and vitamin E supplementation of ram-lambs on the slaughter value and concentration of mineral elements in the loin muscle of lambs. The experiment was conducted on 72 Polish Merino ram-lambs divided into three groups: group C, indoor with no supplement, 19 lambs; S, indoor with supplement, 23 lambs; G, outdoor with no supplement, 30 lambs. From birth all the lambs were maintained indoor with their dams and then weaned at the age of 8 weeks. The rams from group C and S were placed in individual straw-bedded pens and fattened individually with concentrate mixture offered ad libitum until the age of 16 weeks. The lambs from group G were grazed every day from May to July (2 months). During the fattening period each lamb from the supplemented group S was administered per os 1 mL 0.1% $Na_2SeO_4$ (Se, 0.42 mg), 3 mL 10% $ZnSO_4$ (Zn, 68 mg), and 1 mL premix protect vitamin E (0.1 g ${\alpha}$-tocopherol, 5 mg lysine, 5 mg methionine) daily. A comparison of half carcasses across the groups has shown no difference between the control group and the one with supplements, while the weight of half carcasses in the grazing group was smaller in comparison with groups C and S (p<0.001). The meat content in the pelvic limb showed no differences across all groups under study. The pelvic limb of grazing lambs contained less fat compared to the control and supplemented groups (p<0.001). The concentrations of Se and Zn in the blood plasma of ram-lambs from the supplemented group were significantly higher than for the control and grazing lambs. Inorganic Se and Zn supplementation with vitamin E to the diet of lambs increased Se and Zn levels in loin muscle (p<0.001) to $0.46{\mu}g/g$ and $32.9{\mu}g/g$ in fresh tissue, respectively.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.8.1-8.8
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• 2015

Background: The demand for healthy, lean and consistent meat products containing low saturated fatty acid content and high quality polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), especially long-chain (${\geq}C_{20}$) omega-3 PUFA, has increased in recent times. Fat deposition is altered by both the genetic background and dietary supplements, and this study aimed to assess the effect of dietary Spirulina supplementation levels on the mRNA expression patterns of genes controlling lipid metabolism in the subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and Longissimus dorsi (ld) muscle of Australian crossbred sheep. Methods: Twenty-four weaned lambs belonging to four breeds under the same management conditions were maintained on ryegrass pasture and fed three levels of Spirulina supplement (control, low and high). In terms of nutrient composition, Spirulina is a nutrient-rich supplement that contains all essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals. It also is a rich source of carotenoids and fatty acids, especially gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) that infer health benefits. After slaughter, subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and ld samples were subjected to mRNA extraction and reverse transcription using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) to assess the mRNA expression levels of the Aralkylamine N-acetyltransferase (AANAT), Adrenergic beta-3 receptor (ADRB3), B-cell translocation gene 2 (BTG2) and Fatty acid synthase (FASN) genes, which are associated with lipid metabolism. Results: Both low and high Spirulina supplementation levels strongly up-regulated the transcription of all the selected genes in both SAT and ld tissues (mostly in the subcutaneous adipose), but sheep breed and sex did not influence the gene expression patterns in these tissues. Conclusions: The evidence indicates that high Spirulina supplementation level resulted in a decrease in intramuscular fat content in Australian purebred and crossbred sheep due to the enhanced production of melatonin in sheep muscle tissues and strong up-regulation of mRNA expression of BTG2 in SAT which negatively affected fat deposition. In contrast, low Spirulina supplementation level strongly up-regulated the ADRB3 and FASN genes responsible for fat production. These findings are consistent with the observed phenotypic data suggesting that low Spirulina supplementation level can increase lamb production, with higher long-chain PUFA content.