Carcass Traits and Meat Quality of Fat-Tailed Lambs Fed Rosemary Residues as a Part of Concentrate

Abstract

Facing climate change implications on feeds unavailability, unconventional resources are being considered with a growing interest such as aromatic plant distillation residues with a two-fold object, enhancing meat quality by increasing the antioxidant properties and reducing feed prices which are often imported though expensive. Hence, this study aims to assess the effects of rosemary distillation residues (RR) incorporation in concentrate associated to two nitrogen sources as a substitute for standard concentrate on lamb’s growth, carcass traits and meat quality. For this, 24 Barbarine male lambs (3 months old, 17.83 ± 2.6 kg body weight) were divided into three groups. All lambs received individually 600 g of oat hay as roughage and 600 g of standard concentrate for control group, 600 g of concentrate based on RR and soybean meal for RRS group and 600 g of concentrate based on RR and faba bean for RRF group. After 65 days of experiment, all lambs were slaughtered. Phenolic and tocopherol intakes were significantly higher for both RR groups compared to control (p < 0.05). Growth, carcass weights, dressing percentages and non-carcass component weights were unaffected by the diet (p > 0.05). Moreover, regional and tissular compositions and meat physical properties were similar irrespective of the diet (p > 0.05). All color parameters were similar among groups (p > 0.05). However, meat produced by lambs receiving RR-based concentrate was richer on vitamin E and polyphenol contents than control lambs (p < 0.05). Rosemary by-products may substitute the standard concentrate resulting in similar lamb’s growth and carcass traits, while improving meat quality by increasing vitamin E content, which could improve its antioxidant power.

Effects of green oak acorn (<i>Quercus ilex</i>) intake on nutrient digestibility, lamb growth, and carcass and non-carcass characteristics

“…It could be concluded that replacing up to 40 % of barley in the fattening diets with alternative feeds as green oak acorn did have any impact, on cut proportions in general and high-priced joints in particular. Similarly, it was shown that carcass cuts were similar among diet treatments with substitution of sesame hulls or rosemary residue to barley as an alternative diet to lambs (Obeidat and Aloquaily, 2010;Yagoubi et al, 2021).…”

“…Consequently, to supply the livestock, breeders use common concentrates and other feeds often imported and expensive. However, some local feedstuffs such as shrubs and agro-industrial and forest by-products (Obeidat et al, 2008;Mahouachi et al, 2012;Stiti et al, 2021;Yagoubi et al, 2021) could be used as a solution to overcome this shortage. The Quercus ilex (green oak) is one of the most common forest trees in the Mediterranean area; its product, the acorn, may serve as feedstuff in this region.…”

Influence of ferulic acid and clinoptilolite supplementation on growth performance, carcass, meat quality, and fatty acid profile of finished lambs

“…In contrast with our results, other studies with lambs found no effect of FA or feruloyl oligosaccharides on feed intake [ 8 - 10 , 32 ]. Additionally, published reports have studied the effect of supplementing lambs with different phytochemicals or plant extracts; their results have shown that feeding these compounds either increased or did not affect the feed intake of fattening lambs [ 39 ]. In our study, a decrease in feed intake was only present in the second period (days 21 to 40), and this reduction did not affect the lambs’ weight gain.…”

Effects of Using Rosemary Residues as a Cereal Substitute in Concentrate on Vitamin E, Antioxidant Activity, Color, Lipid Oxidation, and Fatty Acid Profile of Barbarine Lamb Meat

“…The experiment was carried out at the experimental farm of the High School of Agriculture of Kef (ESAK) using 24 male Barbarine lambs (3 months old) weighing, on average, 17.8 ± 2.6 kg body weight (BW). Further details on the experimental design and slaughtering procedures were reported previously by [13]. Briefly, the lambs were divided into 3 homogeneous groups of 8 lambs each.…”

“…After 65 days, lambs were slaughtered with an average BW of 25.7, 24.5, and 25.1 kg for C, RRF, and RRS, respectively [13]. After slaughter, carcasses were chilled at 4 • C for 24 h and then split longitudinally; the whole longissimus thoracis and lumborum muscle (LTL) from both sides was removed and sampled in further meat quality analyses.…”