Increasing demands for healthy and eco-friendly products and processes concerned with animal well-being have stimulated consumer interest in pasture finishing systems for lambs (Jacques, Berthiaume, & Cinq-Marsa, 2011). This feeding system affects animal growth rate, carcass weight and yield, muscle: fat ratio, and meat lipid profile, which can reflect in sensorial characteristics such as flavor, odor, and softness (Carrasco et al., 2009). Blackburn, Snowder, and Glimp (1991) reported lower amounts of fat in the meat of exclusively pasture-raised lambs compared to animals submitted to concentrate-based diets, being an attractive attribute for consumers. However, the meat industry is interested in heavy carcasses of young animals with good musculature, providing good cut yield and a minimum fat layer to protect carcasses while in cold storage. Tropical pasture exclusive feeding, such as Brachiaria spp.

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The study evaluate the frequency of poisoning by Brachiaria spp. at the rearing, growth and termination stages in various lamb breeds at increasing supplementation levels. Forty-five lambs were used in the growth phase in pastures of Brachiaria spp. with a history of having induced poisoning. The lambs were distributed in nutritional treatments: lambs receiving mineral supplementation (MS), energy/protein supplementation (EPS) at 0.8% of body weight (bw), EPS at 1.6% bw and EPS at 2.4% bw. The lambs were allotted two flocks (F1 and F2) of 21 and 24 lambs each. Clinical signs of poisoning were observed in all treatments. All MS lambs died. The frequency of poisoning were highest in the 0.8% EPS and 1.6% EPS treatments. All lambs in the 2.4% EPS treatment recovered. F1 lambs had a higher frequency of poisoning than F2 lambs regardless of nutritional treatment. Morbidity rates for the F1 and F2 lambs were 52.3 and 16.7%, respectively. Supplementation was not sufficient to decrease the frequency of poisoning in lambs at the termination stage, which was dependent on the genetic origin of the lambs. EPS of 2.4% bw treatment, was an efficient nutritional strategy to minimize the effects of poisoning in lambs fed on Brachiaria spp.

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