Abstract The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of increasing levels of corn straw replacement of sorghum silage on average daily gain, loin eye area, subcutaneous fat thickness, weight of commercial cuts, leg tissue composition, and physico-chemical characteristics of the meat from F1 Santa Inês × Dorper lambs maintained in a feedlot system. Treatments consisted of 0, 33, 66 and 100% corn straw replacement of sorghum silage. There were thirty-six 150-day-old male lambs. Corn straw replacement of sorghum silage in lamb feed reduced the average daily gain and weight of the ribs, besides promoting a quadratic influence on leg fat content. However, there was no influence on commercial carcass cuts, leg muscle index, leg tissue composition, and physico-chemical characteristics of the meat. Thus, corn straw can be used as alternative feedstuff for sheep rations to improve the production of high-quality sheep meat in semi-arid regions.

Abstract Crude glycerin is a byproduct of the biodiesel industry and has been widely used in ruminant diets as a source of energy, usually in place of corn, primarily during periods of drought in tropical regions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of including levels of the crude glycerin of low purity (0, 6, 12 and 18%) replacing corn in the diets of goats on the carcass characteristics, tissue composition, meat cuts yield and physicochemical parameters of meat. Forty males castrated without defined racial pattern goats an initial average weight of 19.70 ± 2.30 kg were slaughtered after 86 days. Diets content 0 and 6% crude glycerin promoted similar responses to the analyzed variables, except for pH and breast weight. No differences were observed to total digestible nutrients, slaughter body weight, commercial cut yield leg tissue composition and physicochemical parameters of meat. Crude glycerin can be included up to 12% without losses on carcass weight and meat cuts, leg composition, and meat quality. The inclusion of crude glycerin containing 63.06% glycerol and 45.57% lipids could be effective in partial replacement of corn in diets for confined goats in tropical areas.

AbstractIn this study, the spray drying technique was used to prepare L-ascorbic acid (AA) microparticles encapsulated with galactomannan-an extract from the seeds of the Delonix regia species. The physico-chemical characteristics, antioxidant activity, and encapsulation efficiency of the AA microparticles were evaluated and characterized using thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. The free-radical scavenging activity of the AA microparticles was determined at different environmental conditions using DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl). X-ray diffraction measurements demonstrated a loss of crystallinity in AA after the encapsulation process, and a DSC scan also showed the loss of the compound's melting peak. Thermogravimetric analysis showed small differences in the thermal stability of galactomannan before and after the incorporation of AA. The mean diameters of the obtained spherical microspheres were in the range of 1.39 ± 0.77 µm. The encapsulation efficiency of AA microparticles in different environmental conditions varied from 95.40 to 97.92, and the antioxidant activity showed values ranging from 0.487 to 0.550 mg mL-1.