Fattening performance, meat quality and sensory evaluation of ewe lambs finished on nutritionally-balanced apple pomace silage

Abstract

Weaned Suffolk ewe lambs were assigned to one of two dietary treatments : control diet (C, n＝3) consisting of 50% TDN from alfalfa hay cube and 50% TDN from commercial concentrate (CP 15.5%, TDN 70%) and nutritionally-balanced apple pomace silage diet (APS, n＝3) consisting of 50% TDN from alfalfa hay cube and 50% TDN from nutritionally-balanced APS. Feeding rate was set to gain 0.2 kg daily. The APS was prepared to contain similar amounts of CP and TDN (on DM basis) of the concentrate by ensiling a blend of 70% apple pomace, 6% soybean meal, 12% wheat bran and 12% beet pulp (on FM basis). After a 8 week fattening period, slaughter and meat quality traits were compared. The APS contained on average (FM basis) 3.23% ethanol, 0.92% lactic acid and 0.87% acetic acid, and its pH values were less than 4.0. Fattening performance traits, cooking loss and shear force value were unaffected by dietary treatment, except for a higher (P＜0.05) dressing percentage observed in the C group. Both tenderloin and loin end from APS lambs were rated higher (P＜0.05) for flavor desirability. The loin end from the APS group was also rated higher (P＜0.01) for overall liking.