The objectives of this study were to examine the interaction between added palm oil in high-forage diets and initial concentration of plasma cholesterol on performance, plasma lipids, and carcass characteristics of growing ram lambs. Thirty-two Hampshire-Suffolk ram lambs (initial BW = 34.4 kg) were assigned to a 2 x 2 factorial design consisting of diet (basal [NPO] or 10.7% added palm oil [PO...

Ninety-eight commercial crossbred lambs, average weight 55.1 kg (+/- 4.95), were used to evaluate bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) as a prediction method for fat-free tissue from live lambs and lamb carcasses. Lambs were transported to the abattoir, restricted from feed for 10 h, weighed (LWt), and measured for body resistance (Rs, ohms), body reactance (Xc, ohms), and distance between de...

The objective of this study was to compare carcass and meat quality between Barbarine lambs raised on rangelands and those reared indoors. A total of 24 weaned male lambs (23.2 kg) were allotted into two groups. The first group (GS) grazed pasture dominated by natural shrubs and was supplemented with 100 g of concentrate. The second group (HS) received oat hay and 200 to 300 g supplement of the...

This experiment investigates the effects of maternal nutrient restriction in late gestation on the offsprings' postnatal metabolism and performance. Forty purebred Shropshire twin lambs born to ewes fed either a high-nutrition diet (H) (according to standard) or a low-nutrition (L) diet (50% during the last 6 weeks of gestation) were studied from birth until 145 days of age. In each feeding gro...

background: in recent years, dietary fat supplementation has become a common practice and fat supplemented diets have had variable effects on animal performance and carcass characteristics. objectives: this study was conducted to determine the effect of  increasing the levels of sesame oil on performance, rumen parameters and plasma lipid profile in finishing chal lambs. methods: eighteen male ...

Lamb meat is often perceived by consumers as fatty, and consumption has decreased in recent decades. A lean growth index was developed in the UK for terminal sire breeds to increase carcass lean content and constrain fat content at a constant age end point. The purposes of this study were 1) to evaluate the effects of index selection of terminal sires on their crossbred offspring at finishing a...

introduction one of the animal breeding aims is increasing the economic efficiency. therefore, mating among selected animals in order to enhance economic efficiency should also supply variation in population for next generations’ selection. this study was performed to estimate performance in cross breed lambs resulting from crosses of shal, moghani, afshari and varamini rams with varamini ewes,...

Background: In recent years, dietary fat supplementation has become a common practice and fat supplemented diets have had variable effects on animal performance and carcass characteristics. OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to determine the effect of  increasing the levels of sesame oil on performance, rumen parameters and plasma lipid profile in finishing Chal lambs. METHODS: Eighteen male ...

The reproductive efficiency of the entire sheep flock could be improved if ewe lambs go through puberty early and produce their first lamb at 1 year of age. The onset of puberty is linked to the attainment of critical body mass, and therefore we tested whether it would be influenced by genetic selection for growth rate or for rate of accumulation of muscle or fat. We studied 136 Merino ewe lamb...