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The growth of Clun and Southdown sheep: body composition and the partitioning of total body fat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

B. W. Butler-Hogg
B. W. Butler-Hogg
Affiliation:
Animal Physiology Division, AFRC Meat Research Institute, Langford, Bristol BS18 7DY
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Abstract

The growth of Southdown and Clun lambs was studied over the period birth to 415 days of age.

At birth, 50, 100, 150 and 200 days of age five lambs of each breed, and at 415 days three lambs of each breed, were slaughtered and their body composition determined by dissection.

The relative growth of lean, bone and total body fat was not influenced by breed. At each age both Cluns and Southdowns had similar proportions of total body fat, and were considered to be at the same stage of maturity.

There was a breed difference in fat partitioning, with the Clun depositing proportionately more of its total body fat intra-abdominally, compared with the Southdown. However, there was no significant effect of breed on the growth of individual fat depots relative to total fat. From earliest to latest the order of maturity was pericardial, intermuscular, perirenal-retroperitoneal, mesenteric, subcutaneous and lastly, omental fat.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , December 1984 , pp. 405 - 411
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1984

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