The effect of breed slaughter weight and nutritional management on cholesterol content of lamb carcasses

• Published in: Small ruminant research 2000-06, Vol.36 (3), p.275-283
• Main Authors: Arsenos, G, Zygoyjannis, D, Kufidis, D, Katsaounis, N, Stamataris, C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Breeds; Carcass fat; Cholesterol content; Lambs; Slaughter weight
• ISSN: 0921-4488; 1879-0941
• DOI: 10.1016/S0921-4488(99)00107-8

This study was carried out to assess the effect of breed, sex, post-weaning nutrition, live weight at slaughter and their interactions on the cholesterol content in carcass fat of lambs. The carcasses were obtained from lambs of three indigenous Greek dairy breeds of sheep, the Boutsko (B), Serres (S) and Karagouniko (K) breed. After weaning (at approximately 42 days), the lambs of the three breeds had been reared under different conditions of housing and nutritional management in three consecutive experiments between 1992 and 1994. In experiment 1, lambs (males and females) were individually penned and fed ad libitum on a concentrate ration (11.3 MJ Metabolizable Energy (ME)/kg DM and 192 g crude protein (CP)/kg DM) together with 100 g per day of Lucerne hay (8.3 MJ ME/kg DM and 182 g CP/kg DM). In experiment 2, lambs (males only) were also individually penned but were fed on three different levels of concentrate and ad libitum on Lucerne hay. In experiment 3, lambs (males only) were initially group fed indoors for 63 days on three different levels of concentrate together with ad libitum Lucerne hay, and thereafter the lambs finished on irrigated, sown pasture ( Lolium perrene + Trifolium repens). Lambs were assigned to be slaughtered at one of five standard proportions of estimated mature weight for each breed in experiment 1; at three fixed live weights, common for all breeds in experiment 2 and at two fixed proportions of breed mature weight in experiment 3. The right-hand side of the lamb carcasses was minced and 150 lamb carcasses were selected out of a total of 300 minced carcasses. The concentration of total cholesterol content in carcass fat was determined by HPLC in samples of these 150 lamb carcasses. Mean cholesterol content of carcass fat in the three breeds, B, S and K, extracted from the whole ground carcasses samples, was 3.33, 4.41, 3.34 mg/g of carcass fat (s.e.d. 0.18), respectively in experiment 1, whereas this content was 3.42, 4.50, 3.59 mg/g of carcass fat (s.e.d. 0.19) in experiment 2 and 4.38, 3.47, 3.78 mg/g of carcass fat (s.e.d. 0.22) in experiment 3. Cholesterol content differed significantly ( P < 0.001 in experiments 1 and 2, P < 0.05 in experiment 3) between breeds. It was also significantly affected ( P < 0.05) by the sex of lambs (experiment 1). Live weight of lambs at slaughter had a significant effect on cholesterol content ( P < 0.001 in experiment 1 and P < 0.05 in experiment 2). There was a general trend for cholester