Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T01:47:51.390Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pre- and postnatal study of the carcass growth of sheep 3. Growth of dissectable and chemical components of muscle, and changes in the muscle: bone ratio

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

T. E. Broad  and
A. S. Davies
T. E. Broad
Affiliation:
Applied Biochemistry Division, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Palmerston North, New Zealand
A. S. Davies
Affiliation:
Department of Physiology and Anatomy, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Get access

Abstract

The half carcasses of 39 pre- and postnatal Romney sheep were dissected into anatomical units of bone and, where possible, into 32 muscle units which comprised nine functional groups. The growth of wet weight of the total bone and of the muscle groups (and their chemical components, which included deoxyribonucleic acid, protein, and total lipid) was compared with the growth of the carcass using allometric analysis.

Although bone grew faster prenatally than postnatally relative to carcass weight, the growth of total muscle and of all the muscle groups and their chemical components occurred at a constant, linear rate throughout the growth period studied.

The muscle: bone ratio decreased during prenatal growth, reached a minimum at around parturition and then increased postnatally.

The abdominal, m. longissimus and thigh muscle groups grew faster than total side muscle, relative to carcass weight.

Protein, and especially triglyceride, grew at relative rates which exceeded that of muscle wet weight.

The amount and proportion of intramuscular triglyceride, and the weights of the muscle groups in sheep at three different stages of growth, were predicted from allometric equations. The content of triglyceride was greatest in the cutaneous and neck muscle groups. As a proportion of total muscle, the thigh, m. longissimus and abdominal groups increased as carcass weight increased from 1 kg to 15 kg.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , June 1981 , pp. 235 - 243
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Broad, T. E. and Davies, A. S. 1980. Pre- and postnatal study of the carcass growth of sheep. 1. Growth of dissectable fat and its chemical components. Anim. Prod. 31:63–71.Google Scholar
Clarke, E. A. and McMeekan, C. P. 1952. New Zealand lamb and mutton. I. Anatomical characteristics of lamb and mutton carcases. N.Z. Jl Sci Technol. Sect. A 33(5): 1–15.Google Scholar
Davies, A. S. and Kallweit, E. 1981. Growth patterns in pigs of different mature body size. Proc. 26th Meet. Eur. Meat Res. Workers, Colorado Springs, Colo. In press.Google Scholar
Fourie, P. D., Kirton, A. H. and Jury, K. E. 1970. Growth and development of sheep. II. Effect of breed and sex on the growth and carcass composition of the Southdown and Romney and their cross. N.Z. Jl. agric. Res. 13: 753–770.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jury, K. E., Fourie, P. D. and Kirton, A. H. 1977. Growth and development of sheep. IV. Growth of the musculature. N. Z. Jl. agric. Res. 20: 115–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lohse, C. L., Moss, F. P. and Butterfield, R. M. 1971. Growth patterns of muscles of Merino sheep from birth to 517 days. Anim. Prod. 13: 117–126.Google Scholar
Pryor, W. J. and Warren, G. H. 1973. Chemical fat in the musculature of the sheep carcass. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 80: 219–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar