Tissue composition and qualitative attributes of lamb meat of animals finished with diets containing thermally treated soybeans

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of thermally treated (processed) soybeans in finishing diets for lambs containing two levels of concentrate on the tissue composition and qualitative traits of lamb meat. Twenty uncastrated mongrel lambs with an initial body weight of 22.6 ± 2.06 kg were housed in individual pens during the finishing phase and allocated to a completely randomized design in a 2x2 factorial scheme (fresh or processed soybeans x 50% or 80% concentrate). The animals were slaughtered once they had reached a body condition score of 3.0 and the mean slaughter weight was 32.51 ± 3.08 kg. After slaughter and carcass cooling, loin samples were collected for dissection and separation of the tissue components of the commercial cut. Next, the muscle portion was submitted to qualitative analysis. There was no effect of the interaction between soybean processing and concentrate level in the diet (P>0.05). The loin of animals fed the higher concentrate diet was heavier (0.80 kg). A higher quantity of the muscle was also observed in animals fed the higher proportion of concentrate and diets containing processed soybeans (0.56 and 0.54 kg). The treatments including processed soybeans provided a higher muscle:bone ratio (5.62) and higher muscle percentage (68.13%). The treatments did not influence qualitative meat traits (P>0.05). Heat treatment of soybeans improves the edible portion without altering the qualitative traits of lamb meat.

Keywords

• gordura
• grão de soja processado
• Longissimus lumborum, maciez, ovinos