Short-term heat stress and vitamin E supplementation affect carcass weight, mucle omega-6 fatty acid and meat quality in lambs

Abstract

The effect of short term-heat stress and -vitamin E supplementation on carcass traits and muscle quality – vitamin E, nutritional value and retail colour of lambs was investigated. Forty-eight lambs (crossbred; 42 ± 2 kg body weight, 7 mo age) were randomly allocated by body weight to one of three groups (n = 16) and fed 3 different doses of Vitamin E and Se. The doses of Vitamin E and Se for control (CON), moderate (MOD), and supranutritional (SUP) diets were 28, 130, 228 mg/kg DM as α-tocopherol acetate and 0.16, 0.66, 1.16 mg Se as SelPlex™ kg/DM, respectively. Lambs were fed for 4 weeks followed by a week of exposure to heat treatment. After 4 weeks feeding in individual pens, including ..