The objectiveof this work was to evaluate performance, carcass traits and meat quality ofSanta Inês lambs, finished in feedlot, fed diets containing 60% concentrateand enriched with soybean grain or with protected fat. The concentrates werecomposed with soybean meal, corn, wheat meal, urea, mineral mixture, soybeangrain or protected fat. Tifton-85 hay was used as roughage. It was used 24 lambswith approximately 19.30 ± 1.77 kg and at average age of five months. Theanimals were housed in individual pens for a period of 105 days (21 days ofadaptation and 84 days of experimental period). The animals were weighed atthe beginning of the experimental period and at every 28-day interval aimingat following weight gains in the animals. When the experiment finished, theanimals were slaughtered for measurements on carcasses and assassement of quantitativecharacteristics. After cooling carcasses for 24 hours, samples were taken fromthe loin for meat quality analysis. The experimental design was a completelyrandomized design with three treatments and eight replicates. Animals fed protectedfed presented better feed conversion (4.80 and 4.06, respectively). Diets enrichedwith soybean grain or protected fat do not promote significant differences oncarcass traits and meat quality neither.
