The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of sunflower cake from high-oleic seeds on performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality, and intramuscular fatty acid composition of finishing lambs. Thirty-six crossbred ewe lambs were assigned to four treatments (nine lambs/treatment) in a completely randomized design: 0 (control), 150, 300 and 450 g/kg DM of high-oleic sunflower cake. The lambs were weighed weekly and slaughtered with 42.3 ± 0.18 kg body weight and 270 ± 10.8 days of old. The inclusion of sunflower cake did not affect weight gain, dry matter intake and metabolizable energy intake (p > 0.05). There was an increase in neutral detergent fiber and EE intake (p p L*, oleic acid, rumenic acid and EPA fatty acids linearly increased (p p p < 0.01). Up to 450 g/kg DM of high-oleic sunflower cake in the diet of lambs did not affect animal performance while providing a higher deposition of fat with better fatty acid composition for human consumption.
