Effect of slaughter age on carcass characteristics and meat quality of Barind lamb

The study was undertaken aiming to study the effect of age on carcass traits and meat quality of Barind sheep of Bangladesh. Ninety six male lambs were reared by 16 farmers at two upazila namely Paba and Godagari in Rajshahi district. Lambs were slaughtered at 6 (T1 ), 9 (T2 ) and 12 (T3 ) month‘s age. Each farmer kept 6 lambs (Two lambs for each 3 age category). Four types dressing percentages were measured; DRSWIEO (on the basis of slaughter weight and hot carcass weight including edible offal), DRSWEXEO (on the basis of slaughter weight and hot carcass weight excluding edible offal), DREMIEO (On the basis of empty body weight and hot carcass weight including edible offal) and DREMIEO (On the basis of empty body weight and hot carcass weight excluding edible offal). All lambs received maternal milk and a supplementation of commercial concentrate @ of 1.5% of live weight up to slaughter and allowed to graze for 8 hours a day on natural grassland. The Redness (a) was more (18.80±0.06) in 12 month‘s lamb and Yellowness (b) was higher (10.17±0.06) in 6 month‘s lamb. Ultimate pH (pHu ) varied significantly among age groups and it was lowest (5.62±0.01) at 6 month and highest at 9 month. Drip loss (DL) was highest on young and lowest in aged lambs. Dry matter (DM) and Crude protein (CP) both were varied significantly (p<0.05) in age groups showing highest DM (27.64±0.06%) and CP (23.61±0.03%) in young (6 month of age) lambs for both attributes. Minerals (Ash) was highest (0.89±0.06%) in aged (12 month of age) group and lowest (0.78±0.01) in young (6 month of age) and it was differed significantly (p<0.01) among treatments. Cooking loss (CL) and Ether extract (EE) were not differed (p>0.05) among treatments. The panel of examiners was attracted more to the color of aged lambs (12 month of age) and acquiring number (4.43±0.03) was varied significantly (p<0.01) among ages. Flavor was varied significantly (p<0.05) among ages tended to secure more point for 9 month lambs. Overall acceptability was differed significantly (p<.01) among ages and meat of 9 month lamb showed highest (4.57±0.03) acceptance.