Performance and carcass characteristics of Australian purebred and crossbred lambs supplemented with Rice Bran

Table 4 Effect of treatment on carcass characteristics (Least squares means ± SEM)

	Control	Rice bran low	Rice bran high	P value
Pre-slaughter weight (kg)^a	46.0 ± 1.1	46.0. ± 1.8	44.2 ± 2.1	0.3150^ns
HCW (kg)^b	21.3 ± 0.8	20.4 ± 1.1	19.4 ± 1.4	0.3609^ns
CCW (kg)^c	21.0 ± 0.7	20.1 ± 1.1	19.1 ± 1.4	0.3417^ns
Dressing percentage (%)	46.2 ± 1.2	44.4 ± 1.6	43.5 ± 1.5	0.6819^ns
Fat thickness (mm)	4.5 ± 0.3	4.3 ± 0.5	3.8 ± 0.5	0.1602^ns
Body wall thickness (mm)	15.2 ± 0.7	17.1 ± 1.1	14.2 ± 1.3	0.1639^ns
GR fat score (1–5)	3.5 ± 0.2	4.0 ± 0.3	3.1 ± 0.3	0.0912^ns
Yield grade	2.2 ± 0.1	2.1 ± 0.2	1.9 ± 0.2	0.1596^ns
Rib eye area (cm²)	15.0 ± 0.5	15.3 ± 0.8	14.5 ± 0.9	0.5246^ns
BCTRC%^d	48.8 ± 0.2	48.8 ± 0.3	49.2 ± 0.4	0.4228^ns
OTH trade ($AU)^e	106.3 ± 3.8	102.2 ± 5.6	97.0 ± 7.2	0.4398^ns

^aPre-slaughter weight is the weight of animals (minus Merino ewes) prior to transport for slaughter. ^bHCW = Hot carcass weight. ^cCCW = Cold carcass weight. ^dBCTRC% = Boneless, Closely Trimmed Retail Cuts. ^eOTH = Over the hooks trade (this was based on 500¢AU return per kg of HCW). Level of significance: ns not significant (p > 0.05)