engleski

Carcass traits and meat colour of lambs from diverse production systems

Sheep production in Croatia is primarily based on indigenous breeds and different production systems determined by specific environmental conditions and tradition. The aim of this research was to determine the influence of sex on birth weight, daily gain, pH value, and meat colour as well as the slaughter and carcass traits of lambs derived from three different sheep production systems. For that purpose a total of 306 lambs from three breeds reared in three production systems with different production goals were randomly selected: I - milk production, Pag sheep (total 112 lambs: 66 males and 46 females) ; II - lamb meat production, Dalmatian Pramenka (total 96 lambs: 52 males and 44 females), and III - milk and lamb meat production, Istrian sheep (total 98 lambs: 54 males and 44 females). Sex only had a significant influence on daily gain and age (P<0.01), and weight at slaughter (P<0.05) in production system III. The effect of sex on slaughter characteristics between the investigated breeds was variable. The highest pH value of m. longissimus dorsi (MLD) was determined in production system III, while the L* value of the same muscle differed (P<0.001) between all three production systems and the b* value was significantly lower in production system II. The highest value of L* and b* parameters of m. rectus abdominis (MRA) was determined in production systems III and I, respectively. Sex significantly affected the b* parameter of MRA in production system I, L* parameters of MLD and MRA in production system II, and pH value and L* parameter of MLD in production system III. The results of this study indicate that in a rather small geographical area the possibilities exist for the production of lamb carcasses with specific quality characteristics.

lamb ; meat ; production system ; carcass ; pH value ; meat colour

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