Carcass and meat qualitative and quantitative characteristics of lambs receiving sunflower cake

SUMMARY This study aimed to evaluate the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of carcass and meat of lambs fed sunflower cake. Were used 28 Suffolk crossbred lambs, with 4 months of age and average weight of 21.00 ± 0.74 kg, divided into four treatments: 0% (control), 10%, 20% and 30% of sunflower cake inclusion (% DM). The criteria adopted for the slaughter was body condition score (3, on scale of 1 to 5). The inclusion of sunflower cake did not influence the measurement of length and carcass depth (P>0.05), pH 24 hours (P>0.05), yields of commercial cuts (P>0.05), as well as fat distribution, fat thickness and marbling (P>0.05). There was a linear effect (P 0.05). In relation to the control treatment, the inclusion of 20% and 30% of sunflower cake influenced negatively the ribeye area (12.00 and 11.43 cm2, respectively) (P