Options
A consumer study of the effect of castration and slaughter age of lambs on the sensory quality of meat
Date Issued
2018-12
Date Available
2019-05-20T13:49:58Z
Abstract
Meat from ram lambs is often considered inferior to meat from castrated lambs, especially in older or heavier animals. This study aimed to determine if differences exist in the sensory quality and acceptability of meat from rams and castrates, slaughtered at mean ages of 196 or 385 days. Rams had higher average daily gain, feed conversion efficiency, total weight gain and lower carcass fatness than castrates. A triangle test (n = 81 consumers) showed a difference (P < 0.05) in the sensory quality of meat from rams vs castrates. A 9-point hedonic test involving 100 consumers showed that, although meat from both rams and castrates was ‘liked’, meat from castrates scored higher (P < 0.05) in Overall Liking, Flavour Liking and Tenderness Liking. Meat from castrates was also rated lower (P < 0.05) in Unpleasant Taste/Off-Flavour Intensity. Flavour Intensity and Unpleasant Taste/Off-Flavour Intensity increased (P < 0.05) with age at slaughter. This consumer study revealed that while meat from castrates was higher in Overall Liking, Flavour Liking and Tenderness Liking and lower in Unpleasant Taste/Off-Flavour Intensity than meat from rams, both meats were ‘liked’ by consumers.
Sponsorship
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Teagasc
Type of Material
Journal Article
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal
Small Ruminant Research
Volume
169
Start Page
148
End Page
153
Copyright (Published Version)
2018 Elsevier
Language
English
Status of Item
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0921-4488
This item is made available under a Creative Commons License
File(s)
No Thumbnail Available
Name
Manuscript final .pdf
Size
388.12 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
b4eee957961b4c5d8141c9c7584a3e6e
Owning collection
Mapped collections