A Comparative Study of Sheep Breeds: Fattening Performance, Carcass Characteristics, Meat Chemical Composition and Quality Attributes.

Fattening performance, Carcass characteristics, chemical composition, and meat quality were evaluated in three sheep breeds: Awassi, Harri, and Najdi. Forty-five lambs of similar weight and age were raised for 90 days under similar conditions. The Harri and Najdi breeds had higher dressing-out percentages than Awassi sheep. The Awassi and Harri breeds had thicker backfat than the Najdi breed. No significant difference was found in moisture, protein, and intramuscular fat among the breeds. However, the Harri breed had a higher ash content than the Awassi and Najdi breeds. The Najdi breed had higher ultimate pH and lower cooking loss than the Awassi and Harri breeds. Awassi and Harri sheep had a higher myofibril fragmentation index, longer sarcomere length, and lower hardness and chewiness than Najdi sheep. Subjectively, no significant differences were detected between the breeds, except for flavor intensity while the Awassi sheep were rated in between and not significantly different. In conclusion, breed affected carcass characteristics, meat composition, and the quality of sheep. The dressing yield was higher in Harri and Najdi than Awassi sheep. Awassi sheep showed superior meat quality characteristics followed by Harri sheep. However, Najdi sheep had the best cooking loss percentage and flavor intensity score.

Growth, carcass characteristics, and meat quality of broilers fed a low-energy diet supplemented with a multienzyme preparation.

The effect of a low-ME diet with a multienzyme (Kemzyme Plus, Kemin, Des Moines, IA) blend on performance, meat quality, and carcass traits was evaluated in Hubbard broiler chicks. A total of 120 Hubbard broiler chicks were allocated to the following 4 experimental groups and every group was separated into 6 replicates, with 5 birds per replicate: control (3,180 kcal/kg of ME), control + 0.50 g/kg diet of enzyme (Cont-Enz), low-ME diet (3,080 kcal/kg), and low-ME + 0.50 g/kg diet of enzyme (low-ME-Enz). The trail lasted for 16 D (32 to 48 D of age). No significant differences in growth parameters or carcass traits were observed among treatments. However, liver weight increased with the low-ME-Enz diet (P = 0.038). The low-ME diet recorded the highest weight for the bursa (P = 0.043) and thymus (P = 0.019). Dietary treatments had significant impacts on the length of duodenum, ileum, and cecum, as well as the weight of duodenum. The length of duodenum, ileum, and cecum increased with enzyme supplementation. The myofibril fragmentation index was lower with the Cont-Enz, low-ME, and low-ME-Enz diets than with the control diet (P = 0.043). The shear force increased with the low-ME-Enz diet (P = 0.022) than the control diet. Dietary treatments influenced breast meat yellowness (P = 0.019), whereas the low-ME diet had the lowest yellowness at the slaughtering age. The dietary treatments affected the breast meat pH (P = 0.001), with the control diet having the highest pH value after 24 hours. Thus, there was no effect of low-ME or enzyme supplementation to the control or low-ME diet on growth performance or carcass yield. However, feeding a low-ME diet or Cont-Enz preparation influenced organ and small intestine weights and meat characteristics.

Effects of stock, sex, and muscle type on carcass characteristics and meat quality attributes of parent broiler breeders and broiler chickens.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of using breeder parents (434-days-old) and broiler chickens (37 D of age) from Ross 308 on meat quality parameters and carcass characteristics; sex and muscle type were also estimated. Carcass assessment involved hot carcass weight, carcass yield, and cuts (breast, legs, wings, back, and shoulder). A total of 120 birds were divided into 2 groups (60 birds from each stock), each stock contain equal number of sexes (30 males and 30 females), and further divided into 6 replicates, so that there were 5 birds in each replicate. The birds were fed ad libitum. A sample of 30 birds (male, n = 15 and female, n = 15) from each group was slaughtered for assessing carcass and physical characteristics. Sensory analysis was carried out on each group after boiling or roasting the bird. Live weight, carcass weight and yield, breast weight, legs, wings, and back weights and yield were higher (P < 0.001) for breeder parents when compared to broilers, with the exception of breast percentage. Moreover, better carcass characteristics were observed in males than in females. Parent stock had better water-holding capacity and myofibrillar fragmentation whereas broilers had more tender meat than breeders. Moreover, cooking loss and other sensory characters were not significant between the two groups; however, females had more tender pectoral muscles and more myofibrillar fragmentation than males. We concluded that parent breeders had better carcass characteristics than broiler chickens. The broiler chickens of Ross 308 and female birds had better meat quality than parent breeders.

Chemical composition and structural characteristics of Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius) m. longissimus thoracis.

Saudi Arabian camels of four breeds (6 animals per breed) were used to evaluate characteristics and quality of their meat. Chemical composition, fibre cross sectional area, collagen content, muscle metabolism, cooking loss, pH at 24 h post mortem, colour values (except redness) and shear force of Longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle did not differ between the breeds. Elevated pH values and short sarcomeres reduced overall tenderisation, with a difference between myofibril fragmentation index (P<0.001) and sarcomere length (P<0.05) between breeds. A positive correlation was observed between the activities of the mitochondrial enzymes (r>0.49), between the glycolytic activities (PFK and LDH) (r=0.61) and between Myosin Heavy Chain IIa and LDH activity. The intramuscular fat content was positively associated with redness and muscle oxidative metabolism, whereas shear force had a slight positive association with collagen content and muscle glycolytic metabolism and a negative association with muscle oxidative metabolism and muscle fibre area.