Banca de DEFESA: LUIZ CARLOS LEAL TORRES

CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS, MEAT QUALITY, NON-CARCASS COMPONENTS AND MINERAL METABOLISM 

OF SHEEP FED WITH FORAGE PALM GENOTYPES

Food evaluation; cactus cladodes; performance; minerals; semiarid, native sheep 

Sheep farming in Brazil is a very important livestock activity, mainly in terms of meat production. 

Much of the commercialization of sheep is based on observing the weight of the animals, but it is necessary

 to know the composition of the meat, the percentage and proportion of the cuts and in the Brazilian Northeast,

 due to its commercial and cultural value, the non-carcass components, which characterize the quality of the

 product. In this region, a large part of the herd receives cactus forage as a staple food, and despite being 

an important source of several nutrients, few studies on the different genotypes have been carried out on their

 effect on carcass traits, meat quality, non-carcass components and metabolism. mineral from animals that 

receive this food. Based on the above, the objective was to verify the effect of partial replacement

 of elephant grass hay and total maize by three genotypes of cactus pear resistant to carmine cochineal

(Miúda, IPA-Sertânia and Orelha de Elefante Mexicana), on yield and carcass characteristics, non-carcass 

components, sheep meat quality and balance, serum and bone levels of macrominerals, in addition

 to hepatic levels of microminerals in Santa Inês sheep. Forty crossbred lambs were used, 

with an average initial weight of 21kg (+-2.0), distributed in a completely randomized design. 

30 days of adaptation to diets and management were adopted, and a collection period of 63 days. 

After 93 days of confinement, slaughter was carried out. In the evaluation of performance parameters,

 carcass characteristics, study of carcass morphometry, commercial cuts, non-carcass components 

and chemical composition of the meat, the inclusion of cactus genotypes, provided an increase for 

all analyzed variables. In the sensory analysis, the Orelha de Elefante Mexicana (O.E.M.) genotype stood 

out. In the evaluation of the balance of macrominerals, the inclusion of palm genotypes provided an

 increase in mineral concentrations, blood circulation, bone parameters and bone weight analyzed. T

herefore, the cactus pear genotypes used in the present study can replace elephant grass hay and corn

in diets for growing sheep, as they improve production parameters, provide better quality carcass and meat, 

in addition to causing higher circulating concentrations of minerals.