Effects of feeding fresh bergamot (Citrus Bergamia Risso) pulp at up to 35% of dietary dry matter on growth performance and meat quality from lambs

Abstract The effect of fresh bergamot pulp (FBP) was tested on lamb performances and meat quality. Twenty-seven Italian Merino ram-lambs were allotted into three experimental groups and for 90 days were fed a cereal-based concentrate diet (BERG-0) or two diets in which cereals were replaced with 20% (BERG-20) or 35% (BERG-35) FBP on DM basis. No significant differences between treatments were found for final weight, average daily gain, dry matter intake, feed conversion ratio and carcass weight. The BERG-35 treatment tended to increase total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA; P  = 0.081) and vaccenic acid ( P  = 0.068) and increased PUFA n-3 ( P P P P