Performance, Carcass and Meat Quality Traits of Najdi Lambs Fed Saltbush and Date Pits

Abstract

Sami, A., Al-Owaimer, A., Zahran, S. and Koohmaraie, M. 2010. Performance, carcass and meat quality traits of Najdi lambs fed saltbush and date pits. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 38: 77–80.

To investigate the effect of feeding saltbush and ground date pits on the performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality traits, 60 Najdi lambs (23±0.43 kg, 3 mo) were randomly divided into 5 equal groups and fed on a barley based diet containing alfalfa hay (Control), Atriplex halimus (saltbush) or salt bush with 3 levels (15, 30 or 45%) of ground date pits (GDP) replacing barley. After 84 d, 6 lambs from each group were randomly chosen and slaughtered. Salt bush with 30% date pit group recorded highest daily gain with maximum dressing per cent and back fat thickness, whereas, saltbush alone resulted in poor growth, feed conversion efficiency, dressing per cent and back fat thickness. It is concluded that 20% saltbush, 30% date pit with barley soybean meal based concentrate mixture can be recommended for Najdi lambs.

Keywords:

• Date pit
• Atriplex halimus
• performance
• carcass
• meat quality