Partitioning of lipid in the body of fat-tailed lambs as influenced by docking and sex

Abstract

Twelve docked and 12 intact Najdi lambs of equal numbers of males and females were slaughtered at 40 kg shorn shrunk body weight. Lipid in all empty body fat components; namely, subcutaneous, intermuscular, intramuscular, omental, mesenteric, pericardial, tail, viscera, bone and hide, were determined. Except for ram lambs, which had a lower percentage of lipid in intermuscular partition in loin cut, sex did not influence the relative proportion of subcutaneous or intermuscular fat in each wholesale cut. The data also showed that docking did not change the distribution of lipid in intermuscular and intramuscular at partitions in each wholesale cut. Docked lambs tended to accumulate lower proportions of the lipid in subcutaneous at component in the cuts located along the dorsal line than intact lambs. The total amount of lipid deposited in the empty body of ewe lamb was heavier in weight than that of ram lamb. Docking had no effect on the distribution of total lipid in the empty body, except for subcutaneous fat component, being greater in docked lambs than did intact ones. Generally, the highest proportion of fat was associated with subcutaneous depot followed, in order, by intermuscular, mesenteric, tail, intramuscular and omental fat partitions