The effect of sex on some carcass and meat quality traits in Texel ewe and ram lambs
C. R. Craigie A B G , N. R. Lambe A , R. I. Richardson C , W. Haresign D , C. A. Maltin E , C. Rehfeldt F , R. Roehe A , S. T. Morris B and L. Bunger A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Animal and Veterinary Sciences group, Scottish Agricultural College, King’s Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JG, UK.
B Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
C University of Bristol, Division of Farm Animal Science, Langford, Bristol, BS40 5DU, UK.
D Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Llanbadarn Campus, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3AL, UK.
E Quality Meat Scotland, The Rural Centre, Ingliston, EH28 8NZ, UK.
F Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN) Muscle Biology and Growth, Wilhelm-Stahl-Allee 2, 18196, Dummerstorf, Germany.
G Corresponding author. Email: Cameron.Craigie@sac.ac.uk
Animal Production Science 52(7) 601-607 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN11282
Submitted: 10 November 2011 Accepted: 23 February 2012 Published: 10 April 2012
Abstract
Much of the past research into gender effects on lamb meat quality has focussed on comparing ram lambs with castrated males, but more recent comparisons between ram and ewe lambs have yielded variable results. The objective of the current research was to compare meat quality parameters of M. longissimus lumborum (LL), and M. semimembranosus (SM) from pasture-fed Texel ram (n = 94) and ewe (n = 114) lambs slaughtered at an average age of 144 days in a commercial abattoir. After aging carcasses for between 7 and 9 days, LL and SM were significantly tougher (higher shear values) for ram compared with ewe lambs (P < 0.001). LL from rams had significantly lower intramuscular fat percentage, and higher moisture content than LL from ewes. Differences in LL intramuscular fat percentage or ultimate pH did not explain the sex effect on LL shear force when tested individually or together as additional covariates in the model. Ram SM was lighter in colour (higher L*) and had a higher cooking loss than that of ewes (P < 0.001). The correlations between some of the traits within and between muscles clearly differed between the sexes. Finishing ram lambs to the specifications used in this experiment resulted in meat with relatively minor, but statistically significant differences in quality relative to that from ewe lambs.
Additional keywords: meat colour, Volodkevitch, Warner–Bratzler.
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