Comparative study on carcass characteristics in lambs from the Bulgarian dairy synthetic population and its F1 crosses with Ile de France and Mutton Charolais

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of the father’s breed onto the carcass characteristics in lambs from the Bulgarian Dairy Synthetic Population and its F1 crosses with Ile de France and Mutton Charolais breeds. The scientific study took place at the Sheep Farm with the Agricultural Institute of Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. Object of the study were lambs from the Bulgarian Dairy Synthetic Population and its crosses with Ile de France and Mutton Charolais breeds. After reaching a live weight of 21-24 kg, 9 male lambs of different crosses were slaughtered. Slaughter took place at a licensed slaughter house. The lamb carcasses were chilled for 24 hours. Following this, linear measurements were made on the left carcass halves. The father’s breed has a significant proven effect onto the large and small circumference of the leg (P≤ 0.001) and a proven effect onto the carcass length (P≤ 0.01). The Ile de France crosses feature 17.44% bigger leg circumference in comparison with the animals from the reference group. Similar is the situation with the Mutton Charolais crosses where we have 14.93% bigger leg circumference compared to that in the reference group. Determined is also an effect onto the weight of the chilled carcass and the carcass yield. The lambs from the trial groups have a proven bigger leg weight (P≤ 0.001), proven bigger chilled carcass weight (P≤ 0.01) and they show a trend for proving the effect on the carcass yield (P≤ 0.05).