Replacing cereal grains with dried citrus pulp in crossbred Zell-Afshari fattening male lambs: effects on growth performance, internal organs, meat oxidative stability, and blood metabolites

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Qaemshahr branch, Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr, Iran

Abstract

The use of low cost alternative feedstuff sources such as citrus pulp for animal husbandry , may result in improved performance and animal production. This study aimed to investigate the impact of different levels of dried citrus pulp (DCP) on the productive performance ,carcass , meat quality and blood biochemical parameters in fattening male lambs. Sixteen crossbred Zell-Afshari lambs (28±1.0 kg body weight) were randomly assigned to one of four groups, in a completely randomized design over 75 days. The dietary treatments were a control diet and a control diet supplemented with 10, 20, or 30% of DCP. The lambs fed with a 30% DCP diet exhibited increased feed intake, moreover, these lambs had higher FCR than the control groups (P <0.05), whereas the FCR was similar in the other treatment groups.(P <0.05). In terms of carcass traits, the inclusion of DCP in the diets of lambs compared to the control group led to a decrease in the weight of abdominal fat (P <0.05). In comparison with the control group, the lambs receiving 10, 20, or 30% DCP in their diets had decreased linearly blood peroxide and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) indices, while their meat ash concentration had increased linearly(P <0.05). In contrast, the inclusion of DCP in the diets of lambs had no significant effects on serum biochemistry and liver enzyme activity. In conclusion, replacing cereal grains with 10% or 20% DCP demonstrated beneficial effects on some carcass traits and meat oxidative stability in Zell-Afshari fattening male lambs.

Keywords

Veterinary and Comparative Biomedical Research
Volume 1, Issue 2
August 2024
Pages 19-28

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