DIFFERENCES IN FATTENING AND SLAUGHTER PARAMETERS OF PASTURE RAISED LAMBS ADDITONALLY FED WITH FEED MIXTURES WITH AND WITHOUT ADDITION OF FLAX SEEDS (Linum usitatissimum)

Abstract

The aim of the research was to determine the effect of adding flax seeds (Linum usitatissimum) in fattening feed mixtures on fattening and slaughter parameters of pasture raised lambs fed with grass, breast milk and feed mixtures. For this purpose, commercial fodder mixture and fodder mixture enriched with extruded flax seeds were produced in the fodder factory Jata Emona, Ltd in Ljubljana. Additionally, a hypothesis was set to examine the influence of sex on the examined parameters. A total of 96 lambs of the pramenka breed and its hybrids were selected for this study. Three groups were formed: the control group (KON; n = 32) was organized with animals whose diet was based on grazing in combination with breast milk ad libitum; experimental KKS group of lambs (n = 32) which diet consisted of pasture and ad libitum breast milk with additional 300g of commercial fattening feed mixture on a daily basis; and KSL5% experimental group (n = 32) feeding pasture and ad libitum breast milk in addition to 300g of feed mixture enriched with 5% extruded flax seeds.