author(s)
Amera Mohammad Saleh Al-Rubeii and Hemn Ghazi Zahir

abstract
The present experiment was conducted to study the effect of different levels of Flaxseed powder (FP) as source of omega-3 on the physical dissection for carcasses of Karadi lambs. It used 20 male Karadi lambs, with an average live-weight of 28 ± 0.398 kg and 4-5 months. They were randomly distributed to 4 treatments. FP was supplemented at the levels of 3%, 6% and 9% compared with the control group for 88 days. At the end of the experiment 12 lambs were slaughtered. Carcasses were chilled for 24 h at 4 °C. Concerning the result of physical dissection, there were significant differences, in the major cuts, in half carcass (without tail fat, kidney and pelvic fat) and whole half carcass T1 treatment led to the higher percentage of meat (62.443%) and the lower percentage of fat (22.107%) in half carcass and contrary results were obtained in control treatment. But in the secondary cuts the results were irregular. Furthermore, higher (p<0.05) lean: fat ratio (4.383) and higher lean: bone ratio (2.699) of both dissected and whole carcass side was found in T1 as compared to other treatments. These results were led to improvement of efficiency of meat production in Karadi lambs.