摘要
This experiment was conducted at College of Agriculture, University of Sulaimany to study the effect of different levels of Flax seed powder （FP） as a source of omega-3 on the carcass characteristics of Karadi Iambs. It used 20 male Karadi lambs, with an average live-weight of 28 ± 0.398 kg and 4-5 months. They were randomly distributed to 4 treatments. FP was supplemented at the levels of 3%, 6% and 9% compared with the control group for 88 days. At the end of the experiment 12 lambs were slaughtered after overnight fasting of feed. Carcasses were chilled for 24 h at 4 ℃. Then, several measurements of carcass characteristics were taken. The results showed： no significant differences have been shown in relation to daily feed intake, live weight gain and feed conversion ratio. The treatment 9% recorded the highest in hot carcass weight （HCW） and cold carcass weight （CCW）, rib eye area （REA） and the lowest fat thickness of subcutaneous fat as compared to other treatments. While, no significant differences in dressing percentage （DP） were seen between treatments. Generally percentage of tail fat related to carcass weight and subcutaneous fat to intermuscular fat ratio decreased with FP supplementation. About carcass cuts, significant （P 〈 0.05） differences were seen in percentage of major carcass cuts （leg, rack, loin and shoulder） and secondary cuts （neck, foreshank, flank and breast cuts） relative to cold carcass weight. It can be concluded that using Flax seed powder （FP） as a source of omega-3 supplementation improved carcass characteristics and efficiency of meat production.
