Effects of finishing lambs in rich aromatic plant pasture or in feedlot on growth and meat quality

摘要

A total of 21 fat-tail Barbarine lambs were divided into three groups. Two groups were conducted on feedlot (FL). The daily diet was oat hay and 800 g of concentrate/lamb for control feedlot group (CFL) and control plus 200 g of aromatic plant (AP) of pasture for the second group (APFL). The last group was conducted on a natural pasture (NPG ?￠???? natural pasture grazing group) rich with APs; sheep received daily 400 g/lamb of the same concentrate. At the end of the experiment, 70 days, all lambs were slaughtered. The average daily gain was 161 ???± 11 g, and the slaughter body weight was 43 kg for all groups. Also, daily muscle and fat gains were similar for all groups. The initial pH was significantly higher for NPG than for both the FL ones. The use of AP increased a * and b * values for both rearing modes (16.4 vs. 15.5 and 7.3 vs. 5.8, respectively) but lightness value only for NPG group ( L * = 37.3). Meat from NPG and APFL groups was more tender than that of FL one. However, meat juiciness was lower for grazing than for both the FL groups. In conclusion, with the half quantity of concentrate grazing natural pasture system resulted in the same growth rate as FL. The use of APs in natural pasture or in FL system leads to the same growth rate and tends to improve carcass traits. Furthermore, this use resulted in an increase in meat tenderness and lightness.