A Comparative Study of Sheep Breeds: Fattening Performance, Carcass Characteristics, Meat Chemical Composition and Quality Attributes

Abstract

Fattening performance, Carcass characteristics, chemical composition, and meat quality were evaluated in three sheep breeds: Awassi, Harri, and Najdi. Forty-five lambs of similar weight and age were raised for 90 days under similar conditions. The Harri and Najdi breeds had higher dressing-out percentages than Awassi sheep. The Awassi and Harri breeds had thicker backfat than the Najdi breed. No significant difference was found in moisture, protein, and intramuscular fat among the breeds. However, the Harri breed had a higher ash content than the Awassi and Najdi breeds. The Najdi breed had higher ultimate pH and lower cooking loss than the Awassi and Harri breeds. Awassi and Harri sheep had a higher myofibril fragmentation index, longer sarcomere length, and lower hardness and chewiness than Najdi sheep. Subjectively, no significant differences were detected between the breeds, except for flavor intensity while the Awassi sheep were rated in between and not significantly different. In conclusion, breed affected carcass characteristics, meat composition, and the quality of sheep. The dressing yield was higher in Harri and Najdi than Awassi sheep. Awassi sheep showed superior meat quality characteristics followed by Harri sheep. However, Najdi sheep had the best cooking loss percentage and flavor intensity score.

Influence of Sheep Breeds on Feed Intake, Growth Performance, Digestibility and Nitrogen Utilization

“…The greater FLW of Awassi sheep is ascribed to ADG and FCR over Najdi and Harri breeds, where this is in agreement with the results of Aller et al [12] and Kridi et al [13]. The Harri breed had the lowest (p < 0.05) values of final weight, total gain, average daily feed intake, average daily gain during 84 days (Table 2) compared to Awassi and Najdi breeds and this was attributed to the less amount of DMI consumed by Harri breed [6]. The significant difference between Awassi and Najdi in final weight, total gain, average daily intake, and average daily gain during 84 days was not detected (p > 0.05), and this may due to the similar amount of average daily feed intake consumed by them [6].…”

“…Animals and Diets The condition of the present experiment was carried out as described by Suliman et al [6]. Forty-five of intact three sheep breeds (Awassi, Harri, and Najdi) were used in this study (15 animals of each breed), with weight ranged from 23.40 to 25.87 kg.…”

“…Firstly, for assessment is to evaluate the breed of sheep for their performance, production and the quality of their products. It is assumed that the performance of sheep as digestion, daily gain weight, growth [3][4][5] and carcass characteristics [6] can be different among sheep breeds. Furthermore, the information of performance for Awassi, Harri, and Najdi sheep is little, although these sheep breeds are the main breeds and favored by the citizens in Saudi Arabia comparison with the other breeds [6].…”

“…It is assumed that the performance of sheep as digestion, daily gain weight, growth [3][4][5] and carcass characteristics [6] can be different among sheep breeds. Furthermore, the information of performance for Awassi, Harri, and Najdi sheep is little, although these sheep breeds are the main breeds and favored by the citizens in Saudi Arabia comparison with the other breeds [6]. There are no enough recent studies comparing these breeds of sheep concerning their digestion, performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality; whereas, some of these breeds grown higher ranking in markets and among purchasers than the others lacking any really studies [6].…”

“…Furthermore, the information of performance for Awassi, Harri, and Najdi sheep is little, although these sheep breeds are the main breeds and favored by the citizens in Saudi Arabia comparison with the other breeds [6]. There are no enough recent studies comparing these breeds of sheep concerning their digestion, performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality; whereas, some of these breeds grown higher ranking in markets and among purchasers than the others lacking any really studies [6]. Hence, it is necessary to make comparison concerning these breeds to search their productively abilities.…”