Effect of dietary sodium bicarbonate supplementation on carcass and meat quality of high concentrate fed lambs

Performance, nutritional behavior, and carcass characteristics of feedlot lambs fed diets with non-forage fiber source or sodium bicarbonate

The study was carried out to evaluate the effect of sodium bicarbonate (SB) supplementation in diets and compare its chemical effect with the fiber effect of soybean hulls on performance, nutritional behavior, and carcass characteristics of feedlot lambs. Twenty-eight ram lambs (Dorper × Santa Inês), with an initial body weight of 30.2 ± 4.5 kg and 94 ± 8.4 days old, were used. They were assigned to a randomized complete block design, defined by initial age and body weight. Experimental diets were positive control, diet containing soybean hulls in 400 g/kg dry matter (DM) (CONT), and three diets based on ground flint corn containing 10 (10SB), 20 (20SB), or 30 (30SB) g/kg DM of SB. Among the SB levels, the buffer supplementation quadratically increased dry matter intake, average daily gain, feed efficiency, as well as increased final and slaughter body weight, which led to higher hot and cold carcass weights, loin muscle area, leg compacity index, and weight of neck, shoulder, rib, and leg cuts, with higher values for the 20SB. Feeding SB linearly decreased the area and height of the papillae. None of the animals presented liver abscess; however, two animals from 30SB and one from CONT had F-rumen lesions. The use of SB provided a similar animal performance when compared to the treatment containing soybean hulls. This shows that the chemical effect of the buffer was efficient and provided greater safety for this type of diet without causing damages to the rumen health. Among the SB levels, the best results were observed in the 20 g/kg level (20SB), which shows that the buffer can be used as a strategy for diets with high inclusion of corn and no fiber source.

Effects of Dietary Lycopene Supplementation on Plasma Lipid Profile, Lipid Peroxidation and Antioxidant Defense System in Feedlot Bamei Lamb

Lycopene, a red non-provitamin A carotenoid, mainly presenting in tomato and tomato byproducts, has the highest antioxidant activity among carotenoids because of its high number of conjugated double bonds. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of lycopene supplementation in the diet on plasma lipid profile, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant defense system in feedlot lamb. Twenty-eight Bamei male lambs (90 days old) were divided into four groups and fed a basal diet (LP0, 40:60 roughage: concentrate) or the basal diet supplemented with 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg lycopene. After 120 days of feeding, all lambs were slaughtered and sampled. Dietary lycopene supplementation significantly reduced the levels of plasma total cholesterol (p<0.05, linearly), total triglycerides (TG, p<0.05) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, p<0.05), as well as atherogenic index (p<0.001), whereas no change was observed in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p>0.05). The levels of TG (p<0.001) and LDL-C (p<0.001) were decreased with the feeding time extension, and both showed a linear trend (p<0.01). Malondialdehyde level in plasma and liver decreased linearly with the increase of lycopene inclusion levels (p<0.01). Dietary lycopene intake linearly increased the plasma antioxidant vitamin E level (p<0.001), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC, p<0.05), and activities of catalase (CAT, p<0.01), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px, p<0.05) and superoxide dismutase (SOD, p<0.05). The plasma T-AOC and activities of GSH-Px and SOD decreased with the extension of the feeding time. In liver, dietary lycopene inclusion showed similar antioxidant effects with respect to activities of CAT (p<0.05, linearly) and SOD (p<0.001, linearly). Therefore, it was concluded that lycopene supplementation improved the antioxidant status of the lamb and optimized the plasma lipid profile, the dosage of 200 mg lycopene/kg feed might be desirable for growing lambs to prevent environment stress and maintain normal physiological metabolism.

Effect of sodium bicarbonate supplementation on carcass characteristics of lambs fed concentrate diets at different ambient temperature levels

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of ambient temperatures on carcass characteristics of lambs fed concentrate diets with or without NaHCO₃ supplementation. A slaughter study was carried on 12 male Black Belly Barbados lambs randomly drawn from a growth trial (35 weeks). The lambs were divided into four equal groups and allotted in a 2×2 factorial design. The lambs were allotted at random to two dietary treatments of a basal diet (35:65 roughage:concentrate) or basal diet supplemented with 4% NaHCO₃ at different ambient temperatures (20°C and 30°C) in an environment controlled chamber for 10 days. Lambs were slaughtered for carcass evaluation at about 262 days of age (245 days of growth trial, 7 days adaptation and 10 days of experimental period). Ambient temperature had significant (p<0.05, p<0.05, p<0.01, and p<0.001) effects on meat color from the ribeye area (REA), fat, leg and longissimus dorsi muscles with higher values recorded for lambs in the lower temperature group than those from the higher ambient temperature group. Significant differences (p<0.05) in shear force value (kg/cm²) recorded on the leg muscles showed higher values (5.32 vs 4.16) in lambs under the lower ambient temperature group compared to the other group. Dietary treatments had significant (p<0.01, p<0.01, and p<0.05) effects on meat color from the REA, fat, and REA fat depth (cm²) with higher values recorded for lambs in the NaHCO₃ supplementation group than the non supplemented group. Similarly, dietary treatments had significant differences (p<0.05) in shear force value (kg/cm²) of the leg muscles with the NaHCO₃ groups recording higher (5.30 vs 4.60) values than those from the other group. Neither ambient temperature nor dietary treatments had any significant (p>0.05) effects on pH, and water holding capacity on both muscles. These results indicated that NaHCO₃ supplementation at low ambient temperatures had caused an increase in carcass characteristics leading to significant effect on meat quality.

Trans-18:1 and conjugated linoleic acid profiles after the inclusion of buffer, sodium sesquicarbonate, in the concentrate of finishing steers

Ninety-six European crossbred steers were fed a barley-based finishing diet for differing lengths of time (34-104 days) to investigate if adding dietary buffer (sodium sesquicarbonate at 1.5% as fed) could improve the trans-18:1 (GC-FID) and CLA (Ag(+)-HPLC-DAD) content and isomeric profile of beef produced. Results indicate that the addition of buffer to diets of cattle fed high concentrate diets has limited effects on the overall fatty acid composition of backfat and muscle tissues. However, buffer addition can help to prevent a 10t- shift by maintaining a better (higher) 11t-/10t-18:1 ratio in both meat and backfat during the first 30-60 days of feeding a high grain diet. Over time, however, the effect is lost becoming equal in tissues from animals with or without buffer addition to their diets.