Performance, carcass characteristics, and centesimal composition of meat from Santa Inês lambs and Texel crossbred lambs (Santa Inês × Texel)

This study evaluated the performance, carcass characteristics, and centesimal composition of the meat of intact and castrated lambs of the Santa Ines breed and of the crossbred animals: one-half Santa Ines × one-half Texel. Thirty-four lambs were used, nine intact and nine castrated males of the Santa Ines breed, and seven intact and nine castrated crossbred males, all aged between 6 and 7 mo and with an average live weight of 18.2 kg. The design was completely randomized in a 2 × 2 factorial (two crossing and two sexual conditions), with statistical analyses performed in the STAT version 9.4 program. There was a significant difference the Santa Ines and the Texel and Santa Ines crossbred animals in feed conversion and average daily gain, with superiority of the latter group. Castration of animals aged <12 mo had no significant effect on the performance and on the carcass traits of the Texel and Santa Ines crossbred animals, whereas the genotype had a great influence on weight gain and on subjective and q...