Carcass and non carcass components characteristics of lambs fed with diets containing castor mea

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of substitution of soybean meal by detoxified castor meal on carcass characteristics of sheep. Twenty crossbred lambs weighting 19.3 kg and averaging 7 months of age were randomly assigned to four treatments (0, 50, 75 and 100% of substitution on DN basis). The roughage used was elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.) hay. The diets were isonitrogenous and isocaloric, and fed twice daily. In the following day, orts were collected, being kept around 15%. The experiment lasted 70 days, when animals were slaughtered in a completely randomized design with four treatments and five repetitions. No significantly differences were observed among the levels of substitution for body weight (BW), weight of slaughter (WS), losses due to fasting (LDF), hot carcass weight (HCW), cold carcass weight (CCW), cooling losses (CL), length of carcass (LC), hip of perimeter (HP), hip width (HW) and degree of resignation (DR). The regression analysis showed a quadratic effect for real and biological yields, with a better organic level of 100% substitution. In non carcass components, no significantly differences were registered for viscera, full gastrointestinal tract, empty gastrointestinal tract, genitals, head and legs. For the variable skin, the regression analysis showed a quadratic effect, presenting a point of maximum at 44% for replacement. The detoxified castor meal can substitute 100% of the soybean meal.