The First Identification and Some Carcass Characteristics of the 7 Lumbar Vertebrae in Sheep in Turkey

Abstract The purpose of this study was to draw attention to the number of the lumbar vertebrae in R1 BBA crosses (Bafra x F1 (Bafra x Akkaraman)) lambs (75% Bafra and 25% Akkaraman), and the effect of 7 lumbar vertebrae on some carcass traits. Even though some studies reported that the number of the lumbar vertebrae might be considerably different dependent on the sheep genotype, this has not been reported for Turkish breeds. While a study on the R1 BBA lambs has been performed, seven lumbar vertebrae have been identified in four of the eighteen lambs. The means of the carcass length (80.800±0.583 and 84.375±1.375 cm) (P= 0.036), leg weight (5.942±0.079 and 6.209±0.052 kg) (P= 0.032), loin weight (1.560±0.096 and 1.849±0.060 kg) (P= 0.048), and loin’s lean weight (0.875±0.059 and 1.058±0.032 kg) (P= 0.040) were statistically different between the groups of lambs (6 and 7 lumbar vertebrae, respectively). In conclusion, the number of lumbar vertebrae has economically affected important parts of the carcass.