MORPHOMETRIC, CARCASS MEASUREMENTS AND MUSCLE DISTRIBUTION OF FOUR BREEDS OF RAMS INTENSIVELY FATTENED

Abstract

This study was to investigate breed differences in live weight, carcass traits and muscle distribution of Balami (BA), Uda (UD), Yankasa (YK) and West African Dwarf rams (WAD). fForty-eight rams were randomly assigned into four groups of twelve rams per breed in a completely randomized design. Linear measurements were obtained weekly during the fattening period. At the end of the feeding trial, animals were subjected to a 18-hours fast and slaughtered for carcass measurements and muscle distribution. Results showed that BA and UD had higher values for body length (115.75±4.25 and 110.25±1.89), withers height (70.50±5.57 and 69.00±2.16) and heart girth (92.00±2.94 and 84.00±1.41), than YK (96.50±3.87, 60.75±3.30 and 76.75±0.96), respectively which in turn had higher values than WAD (86.50±5.20, 53.25±5.32 and 75.25±3.30). Carcass length, pistola length, and leg length were 75.75±4.79, 60.75±7.14 and 88.00±2.16; 75.50±4.66, 56.00±5.00 and 80.25±5.80; 59.00±7.79, 56.00±10.62 and 71.50±2.65; 60.50±3.11, 53.75±5.91 and 61.00±2.94cm for BA, UD, YK and WAD rams, respectively. BA and UD had higher proportion of muscle distribution and were generally better than the YK and WAD breeds. This may boost their potential for large scale meat production under fattening conditions.