This study had the objective of evaluating the qualitative aspects of lamb meat from Santa Ines breed when submitted in the termination phase to different feeding systems. Twenty four legs from entire lambs with slaughter age from six to ten months were equally distributed among four different diets: T1 = capim-d'água hay + concentrate, T2 = pineapple hay + concentrate, T3 = forage palm + mixture, T4 = maize ensilage hay + concentrate. The utilization of four different forager feeds resulted in significant difference among the percentages of centesimal composition, calcium, phosphorus, cholesterol, and phospholipid, saturated and unsaturated fatty acids and in the sensorial parameters of lamb meat. Lambs fed diet with high-energy forage (T1, T2 and T3) had meat with the highest percentages of fat (6.93, 8.09 and 8.38%, respectively), and monosaturated fatty acids (C18:1, C16:1, with average of 41.38, 46.40 and 43.15 and 3.44, 3.34 and 2.76%, respectively), associated to a better sensorial quality. The use of forager palm (T3) in lamb feeding resulted in lamb meat with higher percentages of humidity, protein, phosphorus, calcium, cholesterol and saturated fatty acids in comparison with the others treatments (T1, T2 and T4), although this lamb meat had lower sensorial quality in relation to the meat obtained from the others treatments.
chemical analysis; corn silage; diets; lamb meat; palm
