389 Effects of energy source on performance and carcass characteristics in hair lambs finished in feedlot

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different energy sources on performance, and carcass characteristics in hair lambs finished in feedlots. Twenty-eight hair lambs with an initial body weight (BW) 20.8 ± 3.01, were randomly assigned to one of four dietary treatments included with seven lambs per treatment. The dietary treatments included an energy source included at 18% Dry matter: S. spectabilis flour (SF), palm kernel (PK), corn bran (CB) and rice bran (RB) in a diet based in corn silage, ground corn, soybean meal formulated to 13.0% PC and 2.6 Mcal/Kg of DM. The feeding trial was performed for 13 weeks. Water was allowed ad libitum. Animals were slaughtered after the feeding trial, and the carcasses were kept at 4°C for 24 h under Colombian standard guidelines. Data were analyzed by using the ANOVA procedure, SAS version 9.1 to perform a randomized complete experiment with four diets. For each studied variable, the mean and standard error of the mean (SEM) were calculated and differences between means were evaluated Using Tukey′s Test (P ≤ 0.05). Final body weight, hot carcass weight, cold carcass weight, hot dressing carcass (%), and cold dressing weight (%) were not different between the four treatments (P > 0.05). Dry matter intake was superior to the S. spectabilis flour (P < 0,001). Feed efficiency was higher in the CB and RB treatments (P < 0,05). These results indicate that the inclusion of S. spectabilis and palm kernel could improve the dry matter intake and corn bran and rice bran the feed efficiency without effects on carcass characteristics