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Abstract

Sensory attributes, fatty acid composition and vitamin E concentration of meat from intact male lambs reared in four different production systems were analysed. The production systems were: I) indoor feeding with silage and concentrate; II) cultivated pasture; III) cultivated pasture with concentrate supplement; and IV) semi-natural pasture. Meat from lambs reared on semi-natural pasture tended to have stronger hay odour (p= 0.052) and leafy flavour (p= 0.078) than lamb meat from the production systems involving cultivated pasture and indoor feeding. Resistance to cutting was lower (p= 0.032) for meat from lambs reared on cultivated pasture without supplementary concentrate compared to cultivated pasture with supplemented concentrate. Production system resulted in a tendency for difference in the ratio between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. The ratio between n-6 and n-3 was affected by production system (p< 0.0001) where the indoor feeding with silage and concentrate had a higher ratio (2.64) than the other groups (cultivated pasture plus concentrate=1.96, cultivated pasture=1.45 and semi-natural pasture=1.41). No other differences were found regarding fatty acid composition. Vitamin E concentration was higher (p< 0.0001) in all three pasture groups compared to the indoor feeding with silage and concentrate.

Keywords

odour; flavour; tenderness; pasture; silage; concentrate

Published in

Agricultural and Food Science
2025, volume: 34, number: 2, pages: 104-112
Publisher: SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURAL SOC FINLAND

SLU Authors

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science
Food Science

Publication identifier

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.154949

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/143029