Performance, Carcass Traits and Meat Quality of Crossbred Lambs Fed Whole Cottonseed Levels

Abstract

Byproduct as whole cottonseed (WCS) and soybean hulls are quite used in finishing diets to feedlot lambs and WCS is a potential source to be included in lambs diet when prices are advantageous. The most part of the studies with WCS is used as a replacement of cereals as corn. Thus, this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of replacing a fibrous byproduct (soybean hulls) with increasing levels of WCS (0, 10 and 20%) on the performance, carcass traits and meat quality of feedlot lambs. Thirty crossbred lambs (15 males and 15 females, 20±1.6 kg) were fed 1 of 3 high concentration diets: CTL (without WCS), WCS10 (with 10% WCS), and WCS20 (with 20% WCS) in a block design (sex) for 56 days. Feeding 10 or 20% WCS significantly (P=0.013) improved the feed conversion without affecting the final weight gain, average daily gain or dry matter intake in kg/d. However, the DMI (in %) of live weight was affected by treatments (P<0.0001): lambs fed the CTL and the WCS10 diet consumed more DMI than the lambs from WCS20 diet (4.19, 4.03 and 3.6%, respectively). The hot carcass weight, dressing percentage, longissimus muscle area and fat thickness were not affected by the WCS levels. The shear force and meat colour were similar among treatments. These results suggested that fattening lambs may benefit from an increase in feed efficiency from 10% WCS up to 20% without negatively impacting carcass and meat quality.

Effect of Cotton Gin Trash Supplementation as Unconventional Feedstuff on Feed Intake and Production Characteristics of Mecheri Sheep of India

“…According to the results of the current investigation, lambs given 50 and 75 percent CGT of the roughage potion displayed improved carcass weight and dressing percentage compared to the control group. The dressing percentage in the current study was similar to that noticed in lambs of several sheep breeds, viz., Assaf lambs (50.6%) [42], Zandi lambs (50.6%) [43], and cross-bred lambs (50%) [44]. Similar to this, steers [12] consuming the CGT-based diet had heavier hot carcass weights (396 kg) and higher dressing percentages (62.7%) than steers ingesting the control diet without CGT (382 kg and 62.2%).…”

The lipid source can modify saturated and unsaturated fatty acids profile of meat of lambs

“…In other words, the inclusion of these grains to raise the energy density of rations provided to the animals may improve performance and manipulate the quality of meat and carcass (Bassi et al, 2012). Corte et al (2015) showed that the inclusion of cottonseed (10% and 20% DM) in the diet suggests that lambs may have satisfactory performance without negatively affecting carcass and meat quality. Thus, our hypothesis that the lipid source should not impact the performance of male lambs is not supported by our data.…”

Oilseeds in diets of fattening lambs

“…Several animal feeds compete in the human food chain, especially corn. Therefore, alternative feeds to corn in diets for ruminants are important to replace traditional feeds and reduce costs (CORTE et al, 2015;ALMEIDA et al, 2016). Oilseed grains, lipid sources, are used in animal diets to replace rapidly fermentable carbohydrates for fattening and milked animals in many countries, without competing with human diets (HENDERSON et al, 2017).…”

“…Soybeans can be considered a partially protected oil source, since lipid droplets in oilseeds are inserted into the protein matrix of the beans, providing natural protection (SILVA et al, 2007;GALLO et al, 2019). In addition, lipid sources, such as cottonseed and sunflower, supplied to finishing lambs increased availability for absorption and deposition of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the muscles (HOMEM JÚNIOR et al, 2015;CORTE et al, 2015).…”