Journal article
Genetic parameters for meat quality traits of Australian lamb meat
SI Mortimer, JHJ van der Werf, RH Jacob, DL Hopkins, L Pannier, KL Pearce, GE Gardner, RD Warner, GH Geesink, JE Hocking Edwards, EN Ponnampalam, AJ Ball, AR Gilmour, DW Pethick
Meat Sci. | Published : 2014
Abstract
Genetic parameters were estimated for a range of meat quality traits recorded on Australian lamb meat. Data were collected from Merino and crossbred progeny of Merino, terminal and maternal meat breed sires of the Information Nucleus programme. Lambs born between 2007 and 2010 (n. = 8968) were slaughtered, these being the progeny of 372 sires and 5309 dams. Meat quality traits were found generally to be of moderate heritability (estimates between 0.15 and 0.30 for measures of meat tenderness, meat colour, polyunsaturated fat content, mineral content and muscle oxidative capacity), with notable exceptions of intramuscular fat (0.48), ultimate pH (0.08) and fresh meat colour a* (0.08) and b* (..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The CRC for Sheep Industry Innovation is supported by the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centres Programme, Australian Wool Innovation Ltd. and Meat & Livestock Australia. The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the many research staff involved with the Information Nucleus programme, as well as the generous support provided to the programme by Australian sheep breeders. This programme has been a very large collaborative effort involving teams of scientists and technical officers from 7 different research agencies working at 9 Information Nucleus flock sites, 7 abattoirs, and 7 laboratories across Australia. Individual people are not listed simply because of the number involved, but their contributions are duly acknowledged. Flock management and data collection have been an essential part of this study that would not have occurred without the dedication and efforts of these people.