The effects of accustoming to handling during the finishing period and weaning status on stress responses to transport, and carcass and meat quality in Kivircik lambs

• Stress parameters and meat quality of lambs raised under three management groups. • Lambs accustomed to human contact had lower cortisol level before and after transport. • Accustoming to handling resulted in decreased meat ultimate pH. • Meat of weaned lambs had lower lightness and higher redness than unweaned lambs. • Accustoming to handling did not provide an improvement in meat quality. The aim was to investigate the stress responses to transport, and meat quality of lambs in three management strategies applied during the finishing period. At the age of 3-month, three management groups were formed according to handling procedures and the weaning status of lambs: i) unweaned (UW, n = 12), ii) weaned (W, n = 12) and iii) unweaned and also accustomed to human contact (UW H, n = 12). Transportation and slaughtering of lambs were conducted in 2 replications. Three blood samples (at farm, after transport and at slaughter) were collected from each animal. Transportation caused increases in cortisol and glucose concentrations and N/L ratio in all groups. UW H lambs had lower cortisol concentration before- and after- transport compared to UW and W lambs. UW H lambs had also lower glucose level than UW group after transportation. CK levels measured at exsanguination were significantly higher than the levels measured after transport in all management groups. Management group had no influence on carcass characteristics, except liver proportion. The meat of UW H lambs had lower pH 24h values than UW and W lambs, while management group had no influence on shear force, water holding capacity and sensory characteristics. W lambs had lower meat lightness and higher meat redness than UW and UW H lambs. In conclusion, accustoming lambs to human contact during the finishing period might be recommended to the breeders to decrease the stress responses during handling and transport processes.