Allometric growth of bone, muscle and fat, as well as of the carcass cuts of feedlot Texel × Ile de France crossbred lambs was evaluated. Twenty non-castrated male lambs weaned at 42 days of age (15.9 ± 2.1kg live weight) were housed in individual stalls and fed ad libitum. Five lambs were slaughtered ten days after weaning, and the remaining were randomly assigned to one of three slaughter weights: 25, 30 and 35kg live weight. To determine allometric growth of individual cuts and tissues, exponential equation Y = aXb was logarithmically transformed and used. Shoulder presented early maturity (b = 0.89), whereas allometric growth of leg, rib and neck were isogonics (b = 1.00, 1.03 e 1.11, respectively), i.e., similar to the carcass. Increased carcass weight resulted in decreased rate of bone and muscle growth (b = 0.60 and 0.92, respectively), and increased rate of fat growth (b = 1.78). Muscle growth was different among carcass cuts, being isogonics in shoulder (b = 0.98) and leg (b = 0.99), and early in rib (b = 0.90) and neck (b = 0.79). Maximum slaughter weight of Texel × Ile de France crossbred lambs is recommended to be 30kg live weight.
allometry; bone; fat; growth; muscle; sheep carcass cuts
