## 4 Discussion  
Blood parameters were not influenced by the inclusion of macadamia oil or vitamin E in the supplement of the lambs and are in accordance with values reported by [PERSON] et al. [43] for cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, and insulin in lambs. Cholesterol content in blood plasma is often used to evaluate changes in lipid metabolism when fats are added to ruminant diet, up to 6% of DM [44]. In addition, palmitoleic and oleic fatty acids are associated with improving tissue sensitivity to insulin [3; 4], which could reflect to lower plasma glucose and insulin levels for lambs on MO and MOVE treatments. However, [PERSON] et al. [5] observed moderate and negative correlations between plasma insulin and c9 C16 levels in lamb supplemented with fish oil and enriched with n7 fatty acid (ProvinalTM; Tersus Pharmaceuticals). A reduction in DMI observed when lambs received MO and MOVE treatments is evidenced by a greater DMI of forage for lambs under Control (17% difference), given the intake of the supplement was the same among all treatments. A lower DMI observed for the MO and MOVE treatments can be justified by a higher ether extract intake, provided by the inclusion of macadamia oil in the diet (Table 1). Lipids have 2.25 times more energy than other nutrients [45], which contributes to a greater energy density in the diet and higher energy intake per unit of dry matter; this is in agreement with a similar intake of metabolizable energy among all treatments in the present study. [PERSON] et al. [46] emphasized that energy intake in finishing lambs is a determinant of the average daily gain, this observation justifies the similarity of ADG and SW of lambs in the current study, as energy intake was similar among all treatments. Thus, the increase of 23% in feed efficiency in lambs under MO and MOVE treatments is associated with a lower DMI. The absence of effect on the assessed parameters of carcass characteristics may be associated with a similar SW of the lambs among all treatments given that weight at slaughter highly influences carcass characteristics [47]. However, a greater subcutaneous fat thickness was observed in lambs raised under MO and MOVE treatments. Given that palmitoleic and oleic fatty acids have an antilipogenic effect [3; 4], and energy intake did not vary among all treatments, a thicker subcutaneous fat is explained by a higher intake of ether extract when lambs were under MO and MOVE treatments. [PERSON] [48] reported that the use of palmitic in the diet of lambs reflects the direct use of long-chain fatty acids in the metabolic pathways of fat synthesis. Thus, the increase in the supply of long-chain fatty acids enhanced by the inclusion of macadamia oil in the diet explains the increase in subcutaneous fat thickness of the lambs raised under MO and MOVE treatments. As expected, the pH values obtained in the present study in both pre-rigor and post-rigor assessment were not affected by the inclusion of macadamia oil or vitamin E in the supplement, and the results are consistent with other studies that evaluated pH in lamb meat [2; 49]. Meat color (\(L^{*}\), \(a^{*}\), and \(b^{*}\)) was not influenced by the dietary treatments and corroborates with the results reported in the literature for lambs finished on pasture [50; 51; 52; 53]. The parameters associated with water activity in meat (thawing loss, cooking loss, and water holding capacity) were not affected by the inclusion of macadamia oil or vitamin E in the supplement, which is in accordance with the results obtained for the pH of the meat. Final pH values of the meat are associated with the isoelectric point of proteins, which is decisive on the bond between proteins and water in meat. Thus, when the charges between protein and water cancel out, there is a reduction in the amount of water retained, thereby favoring a greater amount of free water [54]. The lack of effect of the treatments for shear force values on the meat may be associated with the age of the animals (145 days at slaughter).