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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: jas.2007-0780v1 86/8/1943    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Santos, V. A. C. Articles by Azevedo, J. M. T. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Santos, V. A. C. Articles by Azevedo, J. M. T.

Carcass composition and meat quality of equally mature kids and lambs¹

Centro de Ciência Animal e Veterinária - Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Department of Animal Science, Apartado 1013, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal

² Corresponding author: vsantos{at}utad.pt

Carcass composition and meat quality attributes of 55 suckling kids (27 males and 28 females) and 57 suckling lambs (28 males and 29 females) of Portuguese native breeds were investigated. These suckling kid and lamb meats are European meat quality labels produced according to "Cabrito de Barroso– PGI" and "Borrego Terrincho–PDO" specifications, respectively. Female kids were slaughtered at 9.1 ± 0.36 kg of BW, and male kids were slaughtered at 10.4 ± 0.37 kg of BW, corresponding to 20.1 and 17.7% of maturity, respectively. Female lambs were slaughtered at 8.6 ± 0.53 kg of BW, and male lambs were slaughtered at 9.9 ± 0.23 kg of BW, corresponding to 19.9 and 17.1% of maturity, respectively. At 24 h postmortem, various yield and quality measurements were collected. The left sides of the carcasses were dissected into muscle, subcutaneous fat, intermuscular fat, and bone. Final pH, instrumental color (L*, a*, b*), carcass measurements, and kidney knob and pelvic fat were also determined. Samples of LM were taken from the lumbar and thoracic cuts for intramuscular and meat quality determinations. At 72 h postmortem, a sample of LM was used for cooking losses and Warner-Bratzler shear force determination. Suckling lambs had greater dressing proportion than suckling kids (P < 0.01). Carcass fatness was not affected by species (P > 0.05), but females had greater kidney knob and pelvic fat proportion than males (P < 0.01). Lambs had greater proportions of the highly valued leg cut and lower proportions of shoulder, anterior rib, and neck cuts than kids. Dissection results indicated that kid carcasses had greater muscle content and lower dissected fat and bone than lambs. Kids had greater (P < 0.001) muscle ultimate pH value than lambs (5.8 ± 0.02 vs. 5.6 ± 0.02). Males had greater (P < 0.05) muscle ultimate pH value than females (5.7 ± 0.02 vs. 5.6 ± 0.02). The kid meat was significantly lighter (P < 0.05) and less yellow (P < 0.001) than the lamb meat. Kids presented less cooking losses (P < 0.001) than lambs, and shear force value was significantly greater (P < 0.01) in lamb meat. The kid meat had significantly more moisture (P < 0.001) and less intramuscular fat content (P < 0.001) than lambs. At this maturity stage, there were significant differences on both carcass and meat quality attributes of suckling kids and lambs, possibly due to inherent differences between species.

Key Words: carcass composition • meat quality • suckling lamb • suckling kid