The effect of forage type on lamb carcass traits, meat quality and sensory traits

Gerlane F De Brito; Shawn R McGrath; Benjamin W B Holman; Michael A Friend; Stephanie M Fowler; Remy J van de Ven; David L Hopkins

doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2016.04.030

The effect of forage type on lamb carcass traits, meat quality and sensory traits

Meat Sci. 2016 Sep:119:95-101. doi: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2016.04.030. Epub 2016 Apr 23.

Authors

Gerlane F De Brito¹, Shawn R McGrath², Benjamin W B Holman³, Michael A Friend², Stephanie M Fowler⁴, Remy J van de Ven⁵, David L Hopkins⁴

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, São Paulo State University, Via de Acesso Prof. Paulo Donato Castelane, s/n - Vila Industrial, 14884-900 Jaboticabal, Brazil; Centre for Red Meat and Sheep Development, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Cowra, NSW 2794, Australia. Electronic address: gerlaneferreira@zootecnista.com.br.
² School of Animal and Veterinary Science, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia; Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Pugsley Place, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia.
³ Centre for Red Meat and Sheep Development, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Cowra, NSW 2794, Australia.
⁴ Centre for Red Meat and Sheep Development, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Cowra, NSW 2794, Australia; Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Pugsley Place, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia.
⁵ Orange Agricultural Institute, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Orange, NSW 2800, Australia.

PMID: 27155319
DOI: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2016.04.030

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different forage-types on lamb carcass, meat quality and sensory attributes. Sixty-two, White Dorper lambs finished on bladder clover, brassica, chicory+arrowleaf clover, lucerne+phalaris or lucerne, were slaughtered at a commercial abattoir. At 24h post-mortem, the m. longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LL) was removed from the left side and sliced into three equal sub-samples, vacuum packaged and randomly assigned to ageing periods (5, 12 or 40days) and the right side was aged for 5days. The m. semimembranosus and m. adductor femoris were removed and, the former was then aged for 40days. Lambs fed chicory+arrowleaf clover or lucerne had a higher dressing percentage and fat depth. Bladder clover gave the highest level of glycogen in the LL. No sensory or other meat quality trait differences were found between the treatments. In general, no treatments showed any unfavourable effect on the traits examined.

Keywords: Bladder; Brassica; Chicory; Colour; Dressing percentage; Glycogen; Grazing forages.

MeSH terms

Abattoirs
Adolescent
Adult
Animal Feed / analysis*
Animals
Color*
Cooking
Diet / veterinary
Female
Food Quality*
Glycogen / analysis
Humans
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Male
Middle Aged
Muscle, Skeletal / chemistry
Red Meat*
Sheep, Domestic
Surveys and Questionnaires
Taste*
Young Adult

Substances

Glycogen