A note on the use of a lumbar joint as a predictor of body fat depots in Aragonesa ewes with different body confition scores

The lumbar joint, which is handled to assess body condition scores, was taken from 52 adult Rasa Aragonesa ewes with body condition scores between 1·5 and 4·5 and dissected into muscle, bone, subcutaneous and intermuscular fat. The subcutaneous fat in the lumbar joint was highly correlated with total fat in the body (r=0·97), confirming the value of this region for assessing body condition in Rasa Aragonesa ewes

Relationships between fat depots and body condition score or tail fatness in Rasa Aragonesa breed

The relationships between body fat depots and body condition score (BCS) were determined in 52 adult Rasa Aragonesa ewes aged 10 (s.d. 2) years and ranging in BCS from 1-5 to 4•5. BCS of each ewe was assessed by three people. the repeatability within individual being 90"/0 and between individuals 80%. The ewes were weighed before slaughter. After slaughter the omental mesenteric kidney and pelvic fat were separated and weighed. The fat of the left side of the carcass was separated into subcutaneous and intermuscular depots. The relationship between live weight and BCS was semilogarithmic and those between fat depots and BCS were logarithmic. Regression analysis was also used to describe the relationships between the various fat depots and BCS or live weight Of the variation in total fat weight. proportionately 0•90 was accounted for by variations in BCS while 0•84 was accounted for by variations in live weight. For individual fat depots proportionately 0•86 to 0•90 of the variation was accounted for by variation in BCS and 0•69 to 0-79 by variation in live weight. BCS was a better predictor than live weight of the weight of both total body fat and the individual fat depots. A curvilinear regression between BCS and live weight showed that the increases in live weight for a unit change in BCS was 7, 10, 12 and 16 kg for each one point increase ill BCS from 1 to 5 respectively. The tail fat depot (tail fatness score) •Was assessed in the same ewes by score on a three-point scale. Of the variation in the weight of individual fat depots proportionately 0•79 to 0•86 was accounted for by variation in tail fatness score. Thus the tail fatness score could be used as an additional method of assessing body condition in the Aragonesa breed

Conformación, engrasamiento y sistemas de clasificación de la canal caprina

España es el segundo país productor de ganado caprino de In UE, con un 21 % del censo total, tras Grecia que posee el 48,7% (Delfa, 2004). A pesar de ello no existe en nuestro país ningún distintivo o Marca de Calidad para la canal y carne caprina, mientras que en Portugal, con un censo del 27,8% del español y una producción de carne que tan solo supone el 13,9% de la española, tiene cinco Indicaciones Geográficas Protegidas. Existe por lo tanto un gran desconocimiento sobre las razas caprinas autóctonas españolas, que se acrecienta con las de aptitud cárnica. A este respecto, Devendra (2000) y Lebbie (2000) indicaban la existencia de importantes lagunas en el conocimiento de esta especie, reconociendo recientementc Morand-Fehr y Lebbie (2004) la necesidad de analizar su situación actual con el fin de prepararla para los retos de un próximo futuro

Ultrasonic estimates of fat thickness, C measurement and longissimus dorsi depth in rasa aragonesa ewes with same body condition score

Ultrasonic estimates of fat thickness, C measurement and longissimus dorsi depth were assessed in 14 Rasa Aragonesa ewes with same body condition score. The ultrasonic estimates have been used for predicting tota1 carcass fat and muscle. The 76% of the variation in carcass lumbar fat thickness was accounted for by variation in lumbar fat thickness assessed by ultrasonic machine, whereas 53% of the variation in C measurement was accounted. Nevertheless only 5% of variation in m. Longissimus dorsi depth was accounted for by variation in this measurement assessed by ultrasonics. The inclusion of cold carcass weight as an independent variable in a multiple regression with lumbar fat thickness assessed by ultrasonics and the same measurement obtained on carcass improve the precision of total carcass fat and muscle predictions (r=81 and 91%)