With the objective of evaluating physic-chemical and sensorial characteristics of meat from lambs finished in feedlot with diets containing sugar cane or corn silage at two roughage:concentrate ratios, 60:40 or 40:60, 32 non-castrated Ile de France lambs, with 15 kg body weight were used. Animals were confined in individual stalls and were slaughtered at 32 kg body weight. Studied diets and muscles did not affect pH at 45 minutes (6.56) and 24 hours (5.62) after slaughter, water holding capacity (58.38%) or cooking losses (34.04%). Meat color and subcutaneous fat color did not differ between diets, but meat color varied for the muscles longissimus lumborum and triceps brachii. Shear force (1.85 kgf/cm²) was not affected by diets, but it was different between muscles, with values 1.41 and 2.28 kgf/cm² for the longissimus lumborum and triceps brachii, respectively. At sensorial analysis of ovine loin and shoulder, the lambs fed sugar cane and higher quantity of concentrate had higher scores for flavor (8.07 and 8.26), texture (8.53 and 8.53), preference (8.20 and 8.46) and acceptance (8.33 and 8.26), respectively. In the diet for feedlot lambs, sugar cane maintained the physic-chemical quality of the meat, so it can be used in this production phase. When associated to higher quantity of concentrate in the diet, sugar cane improves the sensorial quality of lamb meat.
fat color; feedlot; lamb meat; muscles; roughage:concentrate ratio; skatole
