Influence of ewe feeding systems on carcass quality of suckling lambs

Abstract

Numerous studies have evidenced significant differences in the carcass and meat quality of grass-fed and concentrate-fed lambs. The main differences regard carcass fatness (Murphy et al., 1994), subcutaneous fat colour (Prache and Theriez, 1999), meat colour (Priolo et al., 2002a) and fatty acid composition (Enser et al., 1998). The use of grazing in lamb feeding favours the presence of substances in the meat which are beneficial to human health. Different methods, based on the spectrophotometric properties of fat have been proposed to verify the origin of the product (Priolo et al., 2002b). The objective of the present study is to verify if and to what extent the carcass quality of suckling lambs is affected by ewe feeding systems.

Keywords

• suckling lambs, ewes’ feeding system, carcass quality