Authors : Gulcan Demirel, Bulent Ekiz, Aylin Unal, Hulya Yalcintan, Nese Kocabagli and Alper Yilmaz
Abstract: This study was conducted to determine the effects of different levels of dietary oregano essential oil on carcass measurements, meat quality and sensorial properties of Kivircik lambs. Thirty six weaned Kivircik male lambs were randomly divided into three groups of 12 animals each and lambs were fed one of the three dietary treatments. In control group, animals were fed concentrate pellets and hay and animals in other two experimental groups were fed hay and commercial concentrate pellets including oregano oil at 250 ppm and at 500 ppm. After 9 weeks of trial period, all lambs were slaughtered, carcass characteristics and meat quality parameters were determined. The effect of oregano oil was not significant on carcass and meat quality attributes (p>0.05). No differences were detected between treated and control lambs by sensory panelists. These results showed that higher concentrations of dietary supplementation of oregano oil may be required to be able to observe the differences for carcass and meat assessments in lamb.
Gulcan Demirel, Bulent Ekiz, Aylin Unal, Hulya Yalcintan, Nese Kocabagli and Alper Yilmaz, 2013. Effects of Dietary Oregano Essential Oil on Carcass and Meat Quality of Kivircik Lambs. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 12: 991-995.