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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2023, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (2): 140-147.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2022046

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A comparative study of slaughter and meat quality for sheep fed indoors or grazed with supplementary feed in the hill and gully region of the Loess Plateau

Chao PENG1(), Zi-jian LI1(), Hu-cheng WANG1(), Qiang FENG2, Yu-ying SHEN1   

  1. 1.State Key Laboratory of Engineering Research Center of Grassland Industry,Ministry of Education,Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation,Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs,College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology,Lanzhou University,Lanzhou 730020,China
    2.Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau of Anding District,Dingxi 743099,China
  • Received:2022-01-24 Revised:2022-03-03 Online:2023-02-20 Published:2022-12-01
  • Contact: Hu-cheng WANG

Abstract:

Cultivated grassland production systems have both advantages and disadvantages. This study compared the slaughter and meat quality performance of mutton sheep either fed indoors or grazed with supplementary feeding with the aim of identifying a system for the efficient production of high-quality sheep meat. Eighty small-tailed Han lambs aged from 6 months and in similar body condition were selected and randomly divided into two groups of 40 (an indoor feeding group and a group for grazing with supplementary feeding). The House-fed (HF) group was provided ad libitum access to a total mixed ration feed. Feed supply for the HF sheep was such that 10% of the feed was left over. The grazing group with supplementary feeding (GS) were grazed in a sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) stand during the day, and then penned at night with supplementary feed provided in the pen. The supplementary feed was the same as that provided to the HF sheep. After 90-days differential feeding, 6 sheep closest to the average weight of the group from both HF and GS groups were slaughtered. The study found that the small-tailed Han sheep pre-slaughter live weight, carcass weight and drip loss rate did not differ significantly between the HF and GS feeding regimes (P>0.05). The muscle fiber diameter and muscle fiber area of ??the longissimus dorsi muscle of the GS group were significantly greater than those of the HF group (P<0.01). Compared with the HF group, the total unsaturated fatty acid (TUFA) and total saturated fatty acid (SFA) contents of meat of the GS group did not differ significantly (P>0.05). The content of linolenic acid (C18:3n-6) in the GS group was higher than that in the HF group (P<0.05). The content of valine in the longissimus dorsi sheep from the HF group was lower than that in the GS group (P<0.05), and there was no significant difference in the content of other amino acids (P>0.05). In summary, compared to HF feeding, the GS treatment had no effect on the slaughter performance and meat quality of the trialled small-tailed Han sheep, and some indicators were improved. Grazing of sheep with supplementary feeding sheep production in agricultural areas has both ecological and economic benefits and should be promoted.

Key words: grazing supplementary feeding, small-tailed Han sheep, slaughter performance, meat quality