Carcass and meat of Santa Inês lambs and crosses with Dorper or Texel: A meta-analysis

Objective. To evaluate the quantitative characteristics of the carcass and chemical composition of the meat of purebred Santa Inês (SI) lambs and crosses with Dorper (DO-SI) or Texel (TX-SI), finished in feedlot or semi-feedlot, through a meta-analysis. Materials and methods. Virtual databases such as Google Scholar, Science Direct and Scielo were used to select scientific articles published from 2000 to 2019. Keywords such as genotype, lambs, carcass characteristics and meat quality, both in Spanish, Portuguese and English were used as criteria for the inclusion of articles. From each genetic group were evaluated: animal performance, quantitative characteristics of the carcass, carcass cuts and chemical composition of the meat. These variables were included in the analysis from 37 scientific articles. Results. Final body weight, hot carcass weight, cold carcass yield and muscle percentage do not differ between the different genetic groups evaluated. DO-SI lambs showed higher dry matter intake, daily weight gain, loin eye area and loin percentage. Chemical composition was not influenced by the genetic groups. Conclusions. In a tropical and subtropical environment, purebred lambs SI finished in feedlot or semi-feedlot have quantitative characteristics of the carcass and chemical composition similar to DO-SI and TX-SI lambs