Carcass characteristics and fatty acid profile of the meat of Creole lambs supplemented with cottonseed and corn

The objective was to evaluate the carcass characteristics and fatty acid (FA) profile of the meat of Creole lambs supplemented with cottonseed (CS) and ground corn (GC). Twenty-four (24) males of 90 d and 16 +/- 2 kg of initial weight were used. The lambs were assigned to four treatments, T0: grazing; T1: grazing + 25%-CS + 75%-GC; T2: grazing + 50%-CS + 50%-GC and T3: grazing + 75%-CS + 25%-GC, under a complete randomized design. After 127 d of supplementation, the animals were slaughtered, and the hot and cold carcass was weighed. Two hundred grams of the Longissimus dorsi muscle were taken to evaluate the proportion of FAs in each animal using gas chromatography. An analysis of variance was developed to determine the effect of diet. The supplemented animals had an average weight of 32.15 kg, being higher (P<0.05) than that registered by the lambs of the T0 (23.3 kg). Similarly, a higher average yield of the carcasses of lambs that received supplementation (48.2 vs 39.5 %) was observed. Palmitic and stearic FAs increased in the meat of supplemented animals (P <= 0.05), especially in those fed the T2 diet. Supplementation with CS and GC positively altered (P <= 0.05) the ratio of monounsaturated acids (MFAs) and polyunsaturated acids (PFAs). The treatments did not influence (P>0.05) the MFA:SFA ratio and the atherogenicity index. However, the diet affected (P<0.05) the desirable PFA: SFA and FA ratio. Supplementation with CS and GC positively influenced slaughter weight, carcass yield and fatty acid profile in lambs.