The effect of slaughter weight on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of carcass of fattened Ghezel and Mehraban male lambs

In this research, 30Ghezel and 31Mehraban post-weaned male lambs were used to study the effect of slaughter weight on carcass characters. The lambs of each breed were randomly assigned to predetermined slaughter weight groups of small (50 kg for Ghezel and 45 kg for Mehraban), medium (60 kg for Ghezel and 55 kg for Mehraban) and large (70 kg for Ghezel and 65 kg for Mehraban) Kg and were fattened as long as reached their assigned slaughter weight.All non-carcass fats and back fat thickness increased (P<0.05) with increasing slaughter weight. The mean of fat-tail weight increased (P<0.05) with increasing slaughter weight in the both breeds. In Mehraban lambs the fat and bone of carcass cuts increased (P<0.05) with increasing slaughter weight from medium to large but the meat of carcass cut did not. In Ghezel lambs the meat, fat and bone of carcass cuts increased (P<0.05) with increasing slaughter weight from medium to large. Based on the obtained results it can be concluded that Ghezel lambs can be fattened for weight of 70 kg, but slaughter weight of 55 kg seems to be an acceptable slaughter weight for Mehraban lambs.