Effects of Caragana korshinskii on growth performance,slaughter performance,and meat quality of Tan sheep

QIAO Yanyuan; XU Yue; LIU Tonggao; WANG Qian; YANG Chong; XU Ming; CHEN Liang

doi:10.13557/j.cnki.issn1002-2813.2025.18.001

Abstract：The experiment aimed to investigate the effects of Caragana korshinskii on the growth performance,slaughter performance,and meat quality of Tan sheep.A total of 100 healthy three-month-old Tan sheep lambs with a body weight of(20.00±5.00)kg and consistent body condition,which were selected and randomly divided into alfalfa group and Caragana korshinskii group,with five replicates per group and 10 sheep per replicate.The concentrate-to-roughage ratio of the diet was 60∶40.The pre-test period was five days and the formal test period was 170 days,including the early stage(1 to 60 days)and the late stage(61 to 170 days).The results showed that there was no significant difference in the average daily weight gain of lambs between the alfalfa group and the Caragana korshinskii group during the entire experimental period(P＞0.05).The average daily weight gain of lambs in the Caragana korshinskii group was significantly lower than that in the alfalfa group in the early stage of the experiment(P＜0.05),while it was higher than that in the alfalfa group in the later stage,there was no significant difference(P＞0.05).The type of roughage had no significant effect on the final weight,and average daily feed intake and feed to gain ratio during the entire experimental period(P＞0.05),and had no significant effect on body size indicators such as lamb body height,body diagonal length,chest circumference,and tube circumference(P＞0.05).It had no significant effect on carcass weight,backfat thickness,and slaughter rate of Tan sheep(P＞0.05),and had no significant effect on the content of amino acids,fatty acids,flavor compounds,and mineral elements in Tan sheep muscle tissue(P＞0.05),and had no significant effect on meat quality(P＞0.05).The study indicates that Caragana korshinskii can achieve similar effects to alfalfa in terms of the growth performance,slaughter performance,and meat quality of Tan sheep,and can be used as a high-quality roughage to replace alfalfa in Tan sheep breeding.