Slaughter Performance and Carcass Characteristics of the Hybrids Obtained by Crossbreeding between European Mouflon (Ovis ammon musimon Pal.) and Sheep Breed Tigaie

Abstract

The aim of this work was to determine differences between slaughter performances and carcass characteristics of first generation hybrids (F1) obtained by crossbreeding between European Mouflon (Ovis ammon musimon Pal.) and the Romanian sheep breed Tigaie. To assess the yield at slaughter and the participation percentage of the cut parts from the whole carcass structure, crossbreeding were made between females of sheep breed Tigaie and males of mouflon (FT x MM) and between mouflon females and males of sheep breed Tigaie (FMxMT). At the age of 60 days 14 lambs were sacrificed (7 hybrids FTxMM and 7 hybrids FMxMT). Slaughter yield calculated on hot and chilled carcasses had higher values at FMxMT (P<0.05). The participation percentage of the cut parts from the whole carcass structure had the highest values at FMxMT hybrids compared to FTxMM hybrids. Results from this study showed that genotype significantly influenced the main characteristics and have revealed the superiority of FMxMT hybrids against FTxMM hybrids lambs.

Keywords

• carcass
• genotype
• mouflon
• slaughter yield