In order to determine the effect of age, gender and castration, as well as ripening duration and anatomical position on the weight loss (WL) during processing of castradina production (an indigenous Dalmatian dry-cured mutton), 60 ewes (E) of three age groups (up to 2.5 yr, from 3 to 5 yr, more than 5.5 yr) and 40 males (wethers - W and rams - R), 20 in each group, were slaughtered. After cutting the carcasses, whole legs, shoulders and rest parts called “kora” were subjected to processing (salting, drying, ripening) during which the WL was determined. Since the total WL of the E3-5 was the lowest (27.72%) and total WL of the E2.5 and E5.5 were the similar (30.71% and 30.48%, respectively), despite significant differences of these three age groups of E-castradina, one cannot conclude that age of the sheep affects the WL of the E-castradina. The procedure of the castration had significant effect on the total WL, since the total WL of the R-castradina was the highest (38.76%) compared to the total WL of W (29.92%) and E2,5 and E5,5, which were the similar (except E3-5 which was lower than W). The highest total WL was found for the shoulder (35.05%), and the lowest was found for the whole leg (27.26%), while the one of the “kora” was in between (31.95%), whereby the differences among all three groups were significant (p

weight loss; dry-cured mutton; castradina; age; gender

Published by University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagreb, CROATIA
Sponsored by Ministry Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia