Carcasscharacteristics, cut dressing and body constituents were determined accordingto the different dietary energy levels. Eighteen Santa Inês sheep (averaginglive weight of 20 kg and six months old) were full fed diets with 2.43, 2.66and 2.88 Mcal of metabolizable energy (ME)/kg of dry matter (DM). The animalswere slaughtered when reached 33 kg live weight (LW). A randomized block design,with six replicates, was used. Linear decreasing effect was observed for lossin fast (LF) and linear increase for hot (HCW) and cold (CCW) carcass weight,hot (HCD) and cold (CCD) carcass dressing and empty body weight (EBW). However,the loss in cooling (LC) and true dressing (TD) were not affected by the dietaryenergy levels. For the cuts and its respective dressing in relation to the CCW,no effect was observed for the analyzed variables, except for shoulder weightand superior rib weight, that showed increasing linear effect, as the dietaryenergy levels increased. The compactness index of the carcass and leg showedno effect, as the dietary energy levels increased. Fat thichness and loin eyearea showed no significant effects. No significant effect was observed for thenoncarcass constituents, except for the internal fat (IF) and for the contentof gastrointestinal tract - CGT and rumen/reticulum - R/R, that showed linearincreasing effect and linear decreasing effect, respectively.
