Abstract
The effects of docking fat-tailed Salt Range lambs and crossbreeding of fat-tailed Salt Range X thin-tailed Kajli rams on
growth and carcass quality were studied. Each of the three groups of experimental animals consisted of 12 male and 12
female lambs. Taking into account both breed and sex, the crossbred lambs were found significantly heavier than the
purebred docked and undocked lambs at birth and at slaughter (at 13 months). Among the purebreds, undocked lambs
showed non-significantly heavier live weight at 120 days weaning age. The trend, however, reversed and docked lambs
weighed more by 1.35 kg than the undocked lambs at slaughter. Male lambs in all groups evidently exhibited better weight
gain than females. Dressed carcass weight, shoulder and leg weights of purebred docked lambs were significantly (p<0.05)
higher than those of undocked ones. Dressed carcass weight, dressing percentage and weight of loin and flank and leg cuts of
crossbred F1 lambs were higher than those of purebreds. Compared with purebreds, the crossbreds had higher percentage of
lean and bone in 9-10-11 rib cut. Among the purebreds, the docked lambs had higher percentage of lean, fat and bone, the
difference being non-significant. The thickness of back fat layer in purebred docked lambs was comparatively more than
those of undocked and crossbred lambs at all locations except at rear end of the rump, where subcutaneous fat layer was
markedly thicker in undocked lambs. Intra- and inter group comparison showed that females had significantly (p <0.05)
thicker fat layer than that of males. These results may further be substantiated by using larger number of animals in each
group.
