Carcass characteristics and meat quality of Texel lambs finished in Brachiaria spp. pastures with different levels of extruded urea (200S) supplementation.

The objective was to investigate the effects of increasing levels of extruded urea (EU) in the supplementation of lambs grazing. Crossbred Texel lambs (n = 45) were used and kept in continuous grazing in paddocks with Brachiaria spp. The design used was completely randomised, with five of EU replacing soybean meal (0; 6; 12; 18 and 24 g/kg) and two sexes (male and female). The animals were slaughtered, and qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the carcass, non-carcass components, meat quality and chemical composition were carried out. There was an interaction between level*sex for ether extract (EE) and crude protein (CP), so than the meat of the females from the treatment without EU had a higher content of EE than that used EU and the meat of the males from the treatments with 12 g and 24 g 100 kg⁻¹ LW higher levels of CP than other treatments. For all measurements performed up to 18 g 100 kg⁻¹ LW of EU replacing bran and soy, the results were promising, and can be fed to finishing lambs under grazing, without negatively influencing most of the carcass characteristics, components non-carcass, meat quality and chemical composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]