Effect of Age and Breed on Carcass and Meat Quality Characteristics of Beni-Guil and Ouled-Djellal Sheep Breeds

Table 3

Effect of breed, slaughter age, and their interaction on carcass traits and meat quality of Beni-Guil and Ouled-Djellal sheep breed from eastern Morocco.

Parameters	Effect
	Age	Breed	Age × breed
Weight measurements
SLW (kg)			NS
HCW (kg)			NS
CCW (kg)			NS
HD (%)			NS
CD (%)			NS
SL (%)	NS	NS	NS
Linear measurements
G (cm)		NS	NS
K (cm)			NS
F (cm)			NS
LCI = G/F			NS
CCI1 = G/K	NS	NS	NS
CCI2 = CCW/K(g/cm)		NS	NS
Subjective characteristics
EUROP-conformation			NS
EUROP-fatness			NS
Fat colour			NS
Fat firmness	NS	NS	NS
pH and color parameters
pH ultimate		NS	NS
L (lightness)		NS	NS
a (redness)		NS	NS
B (yellowness)	NS	NS	NS
Chromaticity		NS	NS
Hue angle°	NS	NS	NS
a /b	NS	NS	NS

NS: not significant (); ; ; ; SLW: slaughter live weight; HCW: hot carcass weight; CCW: cold carcass weight; HD: hot dressing; CD: cold dressing; SL: shrinkage loss; G: basin width; K: carcass length; F: leg length; LCI: leg compactness index; CCI1: carcass compactness index 1; CCI2: carcass compactness index 2.