Carcass characteristics, non-carcass components and morphometry in sheep submitted to different supplementation strategies

Abstract

The objective of the research was to evaluate carcass characteristics, non-carcass components and morphometry in sheep subjected to different supplementation strategies. It was used 24 male sheep, not emasculated, products crossing the Santa Inês breed with animals without definition of race (WDR), with average weight of 20.58 kg. The animals were distributed in four treatments in a completely randomized design with six replicates per treatment. The experimental period lasted 83 days, 20 days of adaptation to environment and diet and 63 days of the experiment itself. All animals were fed ad libitum hay and Tifton 85 have been treated with different supplements: Treatment Mineral = mineral supplement; Treatment mineral associated with urea = mineral supplement + urea + ammonium sulfate; Treatment protein = protein supplement; Treatment concentrate = concentrate supplement. The concentrated treatment provides higher final live weight, average daily gain in live weight, hot carcass weight, carcass yield in relation to the final live weight and yield of meat, in kilograms, compared to treatments mineral, mineral associated with urea and protein. The treatments did not influence the percentage of non-carcass components. The concentrated treatment results in increased width of the chest and leg circumference measured in vivo and measures in the housing, respectively. The morphometric measurements on the carcass can be used to more accurately predict the average daily gain in live weight and hot carcass yield that morphometric measurements in vivo, emphasizing the width of the chest and perimeters of hip and leg.