In vivo ultrasonic measurements and live weight for predicting carcass quality in Churra Tensina mountain breed lambs
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abstract
Forty six single male lambs of Churra Tensina mountain breed with a live weight ranging from
19.9 to 24.4 Kg producers of carcass type Temasco, were scanned by ultrasound (ALOKA model
SSD-900, with a 7.5 MHz sounder) to determine M. Longissimus dorsi depth and subcutaneous
fat thickness between the I Olh_l ]lh, 12th_13th dorsal vertebra and PI_2nd, 3rd_4lh lumbar vertebra.
Lambs were slaughtered after 24 h. fasting. Carcasses were cooled at 4' C for 24 h. and halved.
The left side was divided according to a standardised jointing procedure, based on six anatom ically
regions: shoulder. long leg, anterior ribs, ribs, flank and neck. Each joint was then dissected into
muscle, bone plus remainder and subcutaneous, inter-muscular, kidney and pelvic fat.
The in vivo ultrasound measurements plus slaughter weight were fitted to predict carcass tissue
composition by Stepwise regression analysis.
All the developed models were highly significant (P