Some carcass measurements and physical dissection for the thigh cut of Iraqi Awassi lambs dosed with flaxseed oil

Abstract EN

This was conducted to study some quantitative and qualitative traits for meat of Iraqi Awassi lambs and dosed with flaxseed oil in the fields and laboratories of the Department of Animal Production / College of Agriculture - Tikrit University for the period from 10/14/2019 to 2/27/2020.

In this experiment, 12 Awassi lambs were used, with average primary weights of 3.6224.18 kg, and their ages ranged between 5-6 months.

The animals were distributed randomly after taking their initial weights and then divided into four groups, and each group included three lambs.

In this experiment using the feeding and individual breeding system in cages, the lambs were numbered with plastic numbers and placed in individual cages (the area of each cage was (1 x 1.5) m in semi-open pens, the lambs were considered treatment No.

(1) as a control treatment and they were not given Flaxseed oil.

addition groups were given (0.06, 0.08, 1)% mL of flaxseed oil respectively.

The concentrated feed was determined on the basis of dry matter at 3% of the live body weight, with hay being provided freely as a source of coarse food.

The percentage of flaxseed oil was changed weekly depending on the increase in body weights of the lambs.

As for the rib-eye muscle area, a significantly excelled(P0.05) was observed in the third and fourth treatments on the rest of the treatments.

Also, significant differences (P≤0.05) were found in the thickness of the lipid layer, where the addition factors decreased compared to the control treatment , All animals were slaughtered at the end of the experiment.

It indicated that the third and fourth equations (T3, T4) were significantly (P≤0.05) superior to the control treatment in live body weight, hot carcass weight, and empty body weight.

As for the dressing percentage, the highest percentage was in the third treatment (T3) and the lowest in the control treatment (T1).

The results also indicated during the physical dissection of the thigh cut that a significantly excelled (P≤0.05) occurred in the percentage of meat and bone compared to the percentage of fat.