Abstract :
Thirty-three Awassi lambs (18.0±0.86 kg initial body weight; 75±2.21 days of age) divided
equally and were used in a completely randomized design to study the effect of partial
replacement of barley grain by carob pods (CARP) on growth performance, carcass characteristics
and meat quality. Treatment diets were no CARP (CON), 125 g/kg CARP (CARP125),
and 250 g/kg CARP (CARP250) of dietary dry matter. At the end of the experiment all lambs
were slaughtered to evaluate carcass characteristics and meat quality. Dry matter (DM)
intakewassimilaramongtreatment diets (945.8, 932.8, and 999.5 g/d for the CON, CARP125,
and CARP250 diets, respectively, P > 0.05). Other nutrient intakes (organic matter (OM),
crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and acid detergent fiber (ADF)) followed
the same pattern. There were no differences (P > 0.05) among treatment diets with regard to
nutrient digestibility. Similarly, average daily gain and feed conversion ratio were comparable
among treatment diets. Cost of gain ($/kg gain) was decreased (P < 0.05) for CARP250
fed lambs than for lambs fed the CON diet, with no significant differences were detected
between the CON and CARP125 treatment diets and averaged $1.97, 1.69, and 1.49 for the
CON, CARP125, and CARP250 treatment diets, respectively. No significant differences were
observed among treatment diets with respect to all carcass characteristics and meat quality
parameters. In conclusion, the results indicated that replacement part of barley grain by
carob pods had no adverse effect on feed intake, growth performance, and carcass characteristics
and meat quality while having favorable effect on cost of gain of Awassi lambs fed
fattening diets.
