EFFECTS OF CIMATEROL ON CARCASS AND SKELETAL MUSCLE CHARACTERISTICS UNDER AD LIBITUM AND RESTRICTED FEEDING CONDITIONS IN LAMBS

Fifty-two wether lambs weighing 30 kg were randomly assigned to 5 treatment groups; 1) initial slaughter. 2) control-maintenance (CON-MT), 3) control-ad libitum (CON-AL), 4) cimaterol-maintenance (CIM-MT) and 5) cimaterol-ad libitum (CIM-AL). Ad libitum-fed animals had free access of a high-concentrate diet, whereas maintenance animals were restricted in feed intake to maintain the initial weight of 30 kg for 90 days. Cimaterol was administered in the feed at 10 mg/kg. Regardless of feeding level, the administration of CIM improved carcass weight (p < .05), dressing % (p < .01), longissimus muscle area (p < .01), leg conformation and muscling (p < .01), USDA yield and quality grades (p < .01) and protein concentration (p < .01) in carcass as well as in muscle. Cimaterol feeding decreased organ wt (p < .01), baekfat depth (p < .01), intramuscular fat and overall fatness. Cimaterol was effective for muscle accretion even under restricted feeding condition. The greater accretion of muscle was the result of the hypertrophy of both type I and type II muscle fibers but the hypertrophy of type II fiber (110%) was much greater than that of type I fiber (37%). Cimaterol feeding decreased muscle DNA concentrations but the number of nuclei per muscle fiber was not changed, indicating that the lower DNA concentration was due to the dilution effect caused by the hypertrophy of muscle fiber. As evidenced by lower flank streaking, lower marbling and darker muscle, CIM feeding adversely affected meat quality. Meat tenderness was also adversely affected, resulting in significantly (p H .01) tougher meat in CIM-fed animals.