Effect of probiotic supplementation on carcass traits and meat quality of Malpura lambs

Abstract

Sixteen Malpura lambs were equally divided into four groups and supplemented with different doses of Saccharomyces cerevisae culture (3.6x109 cells/ml) as 0 (control), 0.5 (T,), 1.0 (T2) and 1.5 ml/kg body wt (T3) at 13–14 days of age. Lambs were slaughtered at the age of 180 days to assess carcass attributes and meatquality. Average pre-slaughterweights for control, T, T2and T3 were 21.90±2.53, 19.65±1.04, 25.20±1.46 and 24.20±3.54kg, respectively. Dressing yield on empty live weight (ELW) ranged from 54 to 57%. Loin eye area was comparable (9.29–11.65 cm2). Average lean, fat and dissected bone contents, in carcass were 56–58, 12–16 and 25–28%, respectively. Meat: bone ratio was comparable (2.01–2.29). Lean: fat ratio ranged from 3.70–5.15. The cooking losses and water holding capacity were 30–40 and 85–88%, respectively. The study suggested that supplementation of S. cerevisae culture to growing Malpura lambs did not have any effect on growth, carcass traits and meat quality.