Vitamin E supplementation of Awassi fat-tailed male lambs

Lambs were divided into two groups consisting of a control (n=4) and an experimental (n=4) treatment starting at the beginning of the fattening period. The vitamin E- treated group (SUP) received an additional 45 mg of vitamin E (DL-α tocopheryl acetate) with a diet given to the control (CON) per lamb per day for 75 days. The effect of vitamin E supplementation on most meat quality traits was not statistically significant. L* and +a* values were measured on the M. longissimus dorsi (LM) and M. semimembranosus (SM) muscles obtained from vitamin E treated lamb groups which had been stored for a period of 12 days at 4C. The +a* (redness) for the freshly sliced SM muscle was significantly higher than the control (CON) at 4, 7 and 12 days of storage. TBARS (thiobarbituric acid) values in the LD muscle obtained from the control group were found to be higher than those obtained from the vitamin E supplementation group (P<0.01) on day 7 of storage.