Performance, carcass traits and meat quality of lambs fed sugarcane silage (Saccharum officinarum) with or without Tithonia diversifolia.

This study aimed to provide an exploratory and descriptive assessment of performance, carcass traits, and meat quality of lambs fed sugarcane silage (Saccharum officinarum) with or without the inclusion of Tithonia diversifolia. Twenty uncastrated crossbred male lambs (½ Santa Inês × ½ Dorper) were housed in a confinement system equipped with automated individual intake recording and assigned to one of two diets: exclusive sugarcane silage (SCA) or a mixture of sugarcane and T. diversifolia silage (SCA + TD), both combined with concentrate. Intake, growth performance, carcass characteristics, physicochemical properties of the Longissimus lumborum muscle, and indicators of oxidative stability were evaluated descriptively. Lambs fed the SCA + TD diet exhibited numerically higher dry matter intake and growth indicators, while carcass traits and commercial cut yields showed similar patterns between treatments. Meat quality attributes, including pH, color, cooking loss, and shear force, remained within normal ranges for lamb meat. Indicators of oxidative stability, such as thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), peroxide index, and color stability during refrigerated storage, showed consistently low values across both diets. Principal component analysis revealed coherent multivariate relationships among intake, performance, carcass, and meat quality variables, with no clear separation between dietary treatments. Overall, the descriptive results indicate that the inclusion of Tithonia diversifolia in sugarcane-based silage did not compromise animal performance, carcass development, or meat quality and may contribute to maintaining oxidative stability of lamb meat. These findings support the potential use of T. diversifolia as a complementary forage resource in confined lamb production systems.