Combinación de zeolita y zilpaterol en ovinos: características de la canal, cortes primarios y masa visceral

Previous reports support that the use of zeolites, as well as beta-agonist additives, promote changes in carcass composition. The inclusion of both in finishing diets is a common practice, however, the potential interaction effects of this combination on the characteristics of the carcass, primary cuts and visceral mass have not been evaluated. For this reason, 48 lambs were fed for 34 days prior to slaughter with the following treatments: 1) basal diet (Control), 2) inclusion of 3% zeolite replacing corn and soybean paste in equal parts in the basal diet (ZEO), 3) basal diet supplemented with 6 mg of ZH/kg of DM(ZH) and 4) basal diet containing ZEO plus ZH. Compared with CONTROL, ZEO decreased (P<0.05) the hot carcass weight, dressing percentage (DP), rib eye area (REA), while ZH increased all these variables and modified the tissue composition by increasing the protein fat ratio. The combination affected (interaction, P<0.01) negatively the DP, but positively the REA area. Separately, both decreased back fat thickness and visceral fat. The use of ZH increased the hindquarter proportion of the carcass, mainly due to the 6% increase in the leg proportion. The ZEO×ZH combination positively affected the AOC, but negatively affected the percentage of carcass yield. Both additives, alone or combined, turn out to be a strategy to reduce the amount of body fat.