Effects of Feed Ingredients with Different Protein-to-Fat Ratios on Growth, Slaughter Performance and Fat Deposition of Small-Tail Han Lambs
1
Institute of Feed Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Sino-US Joint Lab on Nutrition and Metabolism of Ruminant/Key Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100081, China
2
College of Animal Science, Tarim University, Alaer 843300, China
3
Bayannur Institute of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Science, Bayannaoer 015000, China
4
College of Animal Science, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, Jinzhong 030801, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this study.
Animals 2024, 14(6), 859; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14060859
Submission received: 19 January 2024
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Revised: 4 March 2024
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Accepted: 5 March 2024
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Published: 11 March 2024
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrient Utilization, Requirements and Nutrigenomics in Sheep and Goats)
Simple Summary
As demand for lamb is increasing, shortening the growth cycle and increasing meat production in lambs are major concerns today. Protein and energy are the two nutrients that most directly drive meat production in animals. In lambs, however, too few applications are available through nutrient combinations. We believe it is feasible to encourage animals to improve meat production performance by regulating the simplest nutrients in feed. In this experiment, we investigated the effects of three dietary ingredients with protein-to-fat ratios on growth, slaughter performance, fat deposition and meat quality of Small-Tail Han lambs. The aim of the current research was to gain insights/provide ideas for enhancing nutrient combination effects to improve animal production performance.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of feed ingredients with different protein-to-fat ratios on growth, slaughter performance and meat quality of Small-Tail Han lambs. Forty-five Small-Tail Han lambs (♂) (BW = 34.00 ± 2.5 kg, age = 120 ± 9 d) were randomly divided into groups with three different experimental treatments: (1) PF 5, with the ratio of protein to fat (CP:EE) of 50 to 5; (2) PF10, CP: EE = 50:10; (3) PF20, CP: EE = 50:20. Each treatment group had 15 lambs, and each sheep was a repeat. This experiment lasted for 65 days, with feed intake recorded daily, and animals being weighed on days 0, 30, and 65. At the conclusion of the experiment, eight lambs from each group were slaughtered to assess slaughter performance and meat quality. The results showed that the average daily gain (ADG) of the three groups were 315.27, 370.15 and 319.42 g/d, respectively. The PF10 group had the highest ADG (370.15 g) (p < 0.05). Forestomach weights (1216.88 g) of the PF10 group were significantly higher than those of the other groups (p < 0.05). There were no differences (p > 0.05) in fat percentages in various parts of body among treatments. Feed conversion of the PF10 group was higher (p < 0.05) than that of PF 5 and PF 20 groups. Furthermore, the PF10 group had a higher (p > 0.05) carcass weight and slaughter rate and there were few differences between the other groups in terms of dry matter intake, meat quality, organ weight, and fat deposition (p > 0.05). The protein–energy supplement with protein-to-fat ratio, PF10 appeared to be more desirable to promote the growth and development in Small-Tail Han Lambs.
