Evaluation of the meat quality Yankasa rams fed graded levels of biscuit waste

Abstract

Twenty Yankasa rams aged between 10 and 12 months with average weight of 12.15kg were used to evaluate the effect of different levels of biscuit waste and Leucaena leucocephala meal inclusion in diets on the quality of their meat samples. The rams were randomly assigned to five treatment diets of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% an d100% of combined biscuit waste and Leucaena leucocephala in replacement for combined maize and wheat offals or B0, B1, B2, B3 and B4 diets with four rams per diet for 91 days. Data were collected on physical, chemical and sensory variables of meat samples. The results showed that there were significant (P<0.05) differences in the cooking loss, water holding capacity, crude protein and overall acceptability of meat samples from the rams. All the parameters measured were better in meat samples from rams fed treatment diets B1 (25%) and B2 (50%) inclusion of biscuit waste and Leucaena leucocephala meal. The results revealed that feeding biscuit waste to Yankasa rams can improve the quality as well as the consumer acceptability of Yankasa rams meat (mutton).