PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF LAMBS FED WITH CARBOHYDRATE SOURCES ASSOCIATED TO SUNFLOWER OIL

This work was carried out with the objective to evaluate the effect of different carbohydrate sources associated with sunflower oil on performance, carcass characteristics and cuts yields of feedlot sheep. Twenty four lambs were assigned to a completely randomized design with a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement with two sources of neutral detergent soluble carbohydrate, starch or neutral detergent soluble fiber, with and without the inclusion of 4.2% sunflower oil. The treatments consisted of diets containing high content of soluble fiber (17.14% DM) without adding oil, high in soluble fiber (16.35% DM) with inclusion of 4.2% sunflower oil, high starch (30.14% DM) without adding oil and high starch (28.21% DM) with addition of 4.2% of sunflower oil. The animals were feedlot with average initial of 17.7 kg and when reached 35 kg body weight were slaughtered. The different sources of carbohydrate and oil inclusion in the diet not influence the days on feedlot in the dry matter intake and average daily weight gain, but higher feed conversion was observed for the diet with a high percentage of neutral detergent soluble fiber compared to diet high in starch. The carcass weights and yields as well as the commercial cuts were not affected by diets. The performance and quantitative characteristics and carcass cuts of lamb are not affected by different carbohydrate sources and their association with 4.2% sunflower oil.